Unity
by Hydraa
Summary: An ongoing series of the life and love of Rosette and Chrno in a universe that takes a different turn from the one in the manga
1. Introduction

**UNITY**

**INTRODUCTION**

The first seventeen of these stories have been posted before and have been recollected into one story to keep a bunch of readers happy and to make it easier for me to post new chapters. All of them are interconnected and while some chapters are suitable for all readers, others are not. Hence the high rating.

None of this is mine.

Hydraa


	2. To Find the Watch

**To Find the Watch**

By Hydraa

The rumbling sound came first, low and distant, easily ignored until the ground began to shake. People on the sidewalk looked up in surprise, not expecting earthquakes, and began to talk nervously amongst each other, moving uncertainly away as the rumbling grew louder. By the time it was heavy enough to crack pavement, they were running in terror, tripping over each other in their haste to escape.

Those screams were drowned out as the centre of the street abruptly surged and exploded upwards, raining concrete everywhere as a demon crashed out from underneath, resembling nothing so much as a multi-segmented, multi-tentacled worm larger than the buildings it now towered over. Seeing it, the humans still in the area ran in terror, but the demon ignored them, rippling out of the hole on a wave of blood and ichor. Already injured, it still bellowed its defiance, turning and lashing out at the two figures climbing out of the hole behind it.

"No, you don't!" the first of the two screamed, brandishing a handgun and firing it straight at the head of the thing. It roared, but it kept coming down towards her and her companion grabbed her around the waist, throwing them both to the side before it hit with such impact that they were both bounced another half dozen feet away.

"I hate this thing!" Rosette screamed, sprawled across a pile of rubble with her robes hiked up to her thighs. Half buried beside her, Chrno forced himself up onto his knees, the heavy box he carried on his back more than a little dented while the receiver of the phone attached to the side swung free to bash him in the head. The little demon, currently looking like a twelve year old boy in red shorts and an overcoat, grabbed the end absently and looked at his contractor.

"I don't think he likes us either, Rosette," he told her. She made a face at him and leaped to her feet, actually charging the thing while firing more rounds at it.

Chrno sighed and hurried to follow her before she ran out of ammunition. She was actually doing a lot of damage to it with the holy water filled bullets, but it was just so _big_ that it could take more damage than they might be able to inflict. After chasing it for hours through the sewers under New York, he was smelly, dirty, tired, and he had no idea how his Contractor could keep going so viciously. She was in her element though, laughing defiantly as she all but ran down the thing's gullet in order to get a better shot.

Chrno wasn't quite as eager as her, but he followed nevertheless, the big wooden box he carried bouncing on his back. There wasn't much choice. He was carrying all the spare ammunition after all and he just knew she was going to run out sooner or later.

Apparently sooner. Chrno saw Rosette's gleeful expression change as the hammer on her gun clicked against nothing and spun, the heavy box pressing against his spine painfully as he turned his back to her. Close to where he gripped the straps to keep them from falling off his narrow shoulders, there were two catches built into the frame. He hit them and the entire back of the box opened, exposing the array of weaponry and ammunition stacked inside, along with the holy water. Encased in glass vials as they were, they usually didn't cause him any trouble, but sometimes one would break and start seeping through the seams of the box, or pool on the bottom when he went in to restock the ammunition. That was painful.

"Thanks, Chrno!" Rosette cheered as she jammed a hand into the box, banging it back into his spine, and pulled a fresh weapon free. Her used one she jammed in its place, slamming into his back again. Chrno bit down on any complaint. The box weighed upwards of two hundred pounds. His back was going to ache by the end of the day no matter how rough she was.

A moment later, there was gunfire again. The worm bellowed in pain, hurt even more but so big it could take the pain. It reared back and Chrno's brow furrowed. There was something not 'reflex of pain' about it.

"Rosette…" he started.

"She looked at him. "What?"

His eyes widened and he grabbed her arm. "Move!" he screamed and threw her out of the way, diving in the other direction the next second. An instant later, the dozen three metre long barbs the worm had suddenly spat at them sank into the ground where they'd been standing.

Chrno didn't see where his Contractor went, but he heard her cursing in a very un-nun like fashion as he rolled, bounced over the cursed box, and crashed flat on his face rather closer to the worm than he liked. After a day of chasing it through the sewers, they'd done a lot of damage to its hind end, but hadn't really faced it from the front. He hadn't realized when he first saw it that it could spit barbs like that.

"Be careful!!" he shouted to Rosette.

"I am!" she shouted back and punctuated her anger with gunfire.

Chrno pushed himself up onto his elbows, eying the demon critically. It had turned away, recognizing Rosette as the greater target. In a part of his soul that he didn't want to acknowledge, he resented that, but he could hardly assume his true form and destroy it as easily as he knew he could. Not when he knew that to do so would drain the life out of Rosette. Nor could he grab one of the guns he carried and shoot at it. For one, he didn't know how to shoot one of them, even though he was the one who cleaned and serviced them all. For another, Sister Kate and the Order had made it very clear to him when he first arrived at the nunnery, while Rosette was otherwise occupied, that if he _were_ to use a weapon, any weapon, they would reclassify him as a threat. Given what they were currently doing to the threat above them, he didn't want that, and as Sister Kate so eloquently put it, they not only knew where he slept, they provided all his food and water as well.

He'd never told Rosette about that little conversation.

Ahead of them, the demon and Rosette swirled around each other, she pumping bullets into it, it too engaged to get away as Chrno knew he'd want to by now. It was only a matter of time and ammunition before she brought it down.

He started moving forward through the rubble, to ensure she had the ammo she needed, when he saw something glint amongst the broken concrete. Normally he wouldn't have noticed the flash of glass, but it was so imbedded in his subconscious and his nightmares that there was no way he _couldn't_ have noticed it.

An ornate pocket watch, made of gold and silver and hung on a now broken chain, lay half buried in the rubble. Chrno's breath caught. It was Rosette's, the pocket watch she used to keep herself alive.

Shorn of his horns and powerless, Chrno had been dying when she offered the contract, to give her soul willingly to feed him so that he could use the powers he once needed the horns for. Without her, he would have been sleeping still or dead from attrition and his body accepted her gift eagerly. The purpose of the pocket watch was to slow his drain. His heart was greedy. He would have had all of her years before without it. Instead, the watch slowed his drain to a mere trickle. Enough to keep him alive, but his form shrunk to that of a child. Rosette had to release the seals for him to be anything more, and to do that would eventually be fatal for her.

Chrno's jaw hardened as he went to collect the watch and stow it in his box. If it were destroyed, there would be nothing to stop the drain from killing Rosette within minutes, short of him shooting himself in the heart with one of her guns. At one time, he would have balked at that. Now there wasn't anything that would stop him if it came to that.

"Chrno!" Rosette shrieked.

Distracted by the watch, the demon looked up to see the monster they were facing wasn't quite as stupid as its inhuman form had intimated. It saw him and knew he was the one who resupplied Rosette with her killing weapons. Turning its head without warning, it targeted on the smaller demon and spat. A dozen spears the length of a man sheared through the air as fast as sound.

Rosette was screaming, Chrno thought idly and tried to think why. It wouldn't come to him through his sudden weariness. All he could really think of was that the pocket watch was okay. The barbs that had shot through his body and the box both, leaving him standing without any of his weight held up by his legs, missed it. It was safe. Rosette was safe.

Chrno closed his eyes, no longer really hearing her. The pocket watch was safe. Rosette was safe. That's all that had to matter.

A moment later, he couldn't hear her at all.

**Part 2**

"Chrno!" Rosette screamed as she saw her partner fall back and stop, held at a forty-five degree angle above the ground, his arms hanging limp by his sides. The box on his back pulled at him and, as she stared in horror, he slid farther back a few degrees, knees buckling.

Rosette went mad. Screaming, she ran at the demon, ignoring the sound of its roars, of people shrieking, of car engines, and squealing tires. She could hear Chrno's blood dripping on the ground though and she fired round after round into the neck of the thing. When she clicked on empty, she didn't even notice and kept on firing. After all, a dozen bullets were slamming into it for each time she pulled the trigger.

"Sister Christopher!" she heard. "Get back!"

Boots sounded, running on the concrete, and Rosette screamed as an arm came around her body, pulling her off the ground. She fought madly against her attacker, but he was bigger and stronger than her, yelling reassurances until she came out of her rage enough to look at his face. Father Remington's expression was grim as he sprinted back across the battleground with her in his arms. Rosette stared up at him in shock for a moment, an unwitting blush on her cheeks, until he ran past Chrno without slowing, headed for a line of cars and Magdela militia waiting in a line on the side of the road.

"Wait!" she screamed, trying to lunge out of his arms towards the little demon. "We can't leave Chrno!"

Remington grunted and tightened his grip. "We can't move him. If he's not dead already, we'd kill him if we did."

_If he's not dead already…_ Rosette started to scream, fighting even more madly until Remington threw her into the back of a car and locked the door. Then she pounded on the window, trying to break out again.

Fifty militia, almost the entirety of the local order's fighting strength, were lined up on the side of the road, weapons aimed. Rosette could barely see Chrno, twenty feet beyond them with no protection. That much gunfire, that many bullets… a single ricochet… She screamed until her voice broke.

"Prepare to fire!" Sister Kate shouted, her arm held up above her head.

"Not yet!" Remington yelled back. Grabbing a riot shield, he ran out past the ranks.

"What are you doing??" Kate cried.

Remington ran to Chrno, cursing as he dodged a spit of barbs by the barest inch. Reaching the demon, he knelt before him and slammed the bottom of the shield into the ground, covering them both.

"Now!"

"Fire!" Kate ordered.

A thousand bullets poured at the demon. It screamed in agony, flesh blowing off of it as so many bullets pounded into it that some hit each other and went in different directions. Remington winced as a half dozen imbedded into the shield he held and the militia ducked behind their cars for protection.

It was enough. The demon gave a sound almost like a whimper and collapsed, slamming to the ground so hard it made rubble jump into the air. A moment later, it desiccated to dust.

Remington shoved the shield to the ground and turned to Chrno, leaning over him and pressing a hand against his neck. "Come on," he breathed, "come on." He could hear Rosette screaming in the background, obviously free of the car, and shot a look at her that froze her before she could reach them.

"Don't touch him! Come on, Chrno, show me how tough you are." He moved his hand slightly on the soft skin, slick with blood that had come out of the boy's mouth, and felt it. A light fluttering under his fingertips.

"He's still alive!" Remington shouted. "Get the medical team over here!"

At those words, Rosette felt all the strength go out of her legs and tumbled to her knees, hands clenched in prayer and tears pouring down her cheeks. He was alive? Her lip started to tremble and she lurched to her feet, stumbling woodenly over to her partner's side, some part of her conscious enough not to get in the way of the three sisters who ran up carrying medical kits and stretchers, behind the Order's doctor.

Chrno looked so pale, the long lashes she'd always envied dark below his closed eyes. A drop of blood was spattered on his cheek and she pulled off her glove before reaching tenderly to wipe it away, never looking at the rest of him.

At her touch, Chrno's brow tensed and his eyes opened. Rosette's heart caught in her throat. For a moment he stared upwards uncomprehendingly and then looked slowly out of the corner of his eye at her. "R-Rosette…?" he whispered. The doctor saw him and started cursing, digging through his bag. Remington stepped up beside Rosette, his expression amazed.

Rosette forced a smile on her face that didn't look nearly as reassuring as she wanted it to. "Don't move, Chrno," she told him, trying to keep her voice even. "Okay?"

"Move?" he repeated in confusion and his eyes focused in sudden realisation. A moment later, agony filled them and his body bucked.

"Chrno!" Rosette cried, grabbing his shoulders. "Don't! You'll kill yourself!"

"Out of the way," the doctor barked and she jumped back. He took her place and pressed a cloth against Chrno's nose and mouth that reeked of fumes even to where she stood. Chrno shuddered, inhaling, and his eyes glazed over before closing again. His entire body relaxed.

"Ether," the doctor explained. "Good thing it works on demons." He motioned to Rosette. "Here, take it. Press it against his nose and mouth for ten seconds every thirty. If he looks like he's waking up, put it on immediately, but don't leave it on too long or he'll suffocate." Rosette nodded, trembling as she took the cloth and bottle he proffered. Standing by Chrno's head, she held the cloth against him, lifting it every ten seconds so he could breathe real air. "Help us cut him down," Remington was ordered and he stood there, arms under Chrno as the doctor and nurses started to saw through the barbs that impaled him.

Remington looked up at Rosette and smiled. "Don't worry, he'll be okay."

Rosette wiped her eyes on her shoulder since her hands were busy. "He better or he's in big trouble. You hear that?" she whispered into her partner's pointed ear. "You don't have any choice but to get better and I'm the one who gives the orders here. Stupid demon, not watching for danger like that. Who do you think you are?" Tears poured down her cheeks and she pulled the cloth off his face. His mouth hung slightly open, a pointed canine barely visible. There were spots of colour high on his cheeks now, but his lips looked grey.

"Sister!" a voice shouted and Rosette looked over her shoulder to see Azmaria hurrying towards her, Satella behind her. Satella probably just showed up like she always did, but Azmaria must have begged to go with Sister Kate. Rosette looked at Chrno and suddenly didn't want either of them to see him like this.

"Stay back!" she shouted. "Chrno's hurt!"

The two girls stopped, Azmaria's eyes flooding with tears and her hands pressed against her mouth. Satella stepped up to put an arm around her and the little girl pressed her face against the bounty hunter's breast, weeping.

Rosette looked away. She could only focus on one thing at a time now. Tenderly, she pressed the cloth against Chrno's face, whispering to him again.

In all, it took half an hour to cut Chrno down, Rosette sleepy from the ether herself by the end of it. Remington took on more of Chrno's weight as the barbs were cut loose, never complaining, and finally held his weight up completely as the straps were cut to the ammunition box and he was able to straighten up, the little demon limp in his arms. Rosette pushed close with her ether rag.

"Here," the doctor ordered, pulling up a stretcher.

They laid Chrno onto his side on the stretcher, the barbs still jutting out of his body a foot through the front and the back. Trying to move him as little as possible, they strapped him down and one of the nurses took the rag from Rosette.

"There's no room for you in the ambulance," she apologized. "Thank you for helping so much."

Quickly, they lifted the stretcher and carried it off the road to where the ambulance waited, Rosette hurrying with them. Somewhere on the trip, Azmaria and Satella joined her, Rosette not even really noticing that the twelve-year-old was pressed to her side, hugging her. The nurses lifted Chrno into the back of the ambulance and the entire team climbed into the back. A moment later, it pulled slowly away, siren warbling. Once it was clear of the rubble, it took off as fast as it could.

"He looks terrible," Satella said suddenly. "I don't know that he'll make it."

Rosette rounded on her. "Shut up!"

Satella shrugged. "I'm just saying-"

"You don't know what you're talking about!"

Azmaria hugged her. "Chrno will live. He has to!"

Rosette growled, never taking her eyes off Satella. "Exactly. He has no choice because I'm going to break the seal and heal him." She reached for her chest and started, not finding what she was looking for. "Where's the watch? WHERE'S THE WATCH??"

**Part 3**

With Father Remington left at the battle site to finish the cleanup, Sister Kate arrived back at the Order at the same time Chrno was brought in. Impassively, she watched as the demon's stretcher was carried out of the ambulance and into the infirmary. They'd taken time during the trip to cut his clothes off and even the hardened nun winced at the sight of the three thick barbs that stabbed through his stomach and chest. There was less blood than she would have expected, thanks to the barbs being left in. Ironically enough, they were now the only things keeping him alive. If they had been removed, he would have bled to death already.

The medical team moved the naked demon into the operating wing of the infirmary, more concerned about his health than his dignity. As Kate watched from the doorway, they moved him to the preparation table, calling commands to each other. Young nuns peeked through the window, horrified and curious.

The Elder stepped up beside her, not leering at any of the girls for once. "They called ahead and told me. It looks bad."

"Yes." Kate's mouth was a hard line. "Very bad." And what would happen, she wondered, if the demon died on that table? Would Rosette's contract with him be broken then? "Perhaps this is God's will."

"God doesn't have anything to do with him getting hurt, or us making him better." He turned away, hands clasped behind his back as he shuffled away. "Come on."

Kate looked after him. "What?"

"Chrno won't make it through that operation without help. He needs demon blood for a transfusion. I need your help to get it."

Kate froze and he looked back over his shoulder at her, as if reading her thoughts. If Chrno died, Rosette would have a normal life, short only the lifespan he'd already taken. If he lived, eventually she would die.

Either way though, to stand by and do nothing was a sin. She accepted Chrno into the Order, albeit reluctantly. If she didn't offer the same protection to him now that she would to anyone else, the oaths of the Order were made meaningless. She bowed her head.

The Elder nodded. "Good. Now hurry up."

Kate followed him into the church, her fingers twitching at her side. She knew where the old man was leading her and wondered if he was right about this. Yes, Chrno was going to lose a lot of blood when those barbs were removed, maybe too much, but that didn't mean that they could just replace it with the blood of another demon. Still, what other choice did they have? Not trying would just guarantee his death and she only planned to have that ethical argument with herself again in the privacy of her own room.

They went deep under the church to the holding chambers next to the training maze. The corridor was freezing cold, the air musty with the smell of demons. Most of the monsters trapped there were incorporeal, but there were a few made of solid flesh and bone. The Elder waited while she checked out a weapon from the locker outside the prison and then led the way in to the cells.

There were crosses everywhere, linking together to form a wall of power that none of the demons could cross. They hissed at the sight of her though, growling.

None of them were intelligent enough to appear human the way Chrno did, but hopefully they were compatible. Kate watched the Elder pull the equipment to take blood out of the wide pockets of his white coat and checked her weapon. It was in good condition and fully loaded, with more clips in her pocket. She didn't go into combat much anymore, and did so now only in a leadership role, but she wouldn't have risen to her position if she weren't a crack shot and an excellent fighter. If Rosette hadn't been so immature and distracted, she would have made a good replacement for her someday. That loss of potential was one of the things that most irritated Kate about her.

The Elder led the way to the fourth of the six cells in this section, obviously having already made his mind up about which of the three trapped demons they had that he wanted to use. It was the most human of all of them, probably his reason for choosing it, and huge. Once, it used huge mantis-like claws to shred its prey, but they had been amputated after its capture. Standing seven feet tall on two legs, it growled at them.

"Please put your arm through the bars," the Elder told it pleasantly. "We want to take a donation of your blood."

For a moment it stared at them, before roaring deafeningly.

"All right then. Kate?"

Kate stepped forward, the gun held in a two-handed shooter's grip, and shot it through the left shoulder. It screamed and she shot it through the right.

"The next one goes through where you like to take a piss," the Elder told it. "Your arm?"

The demon shuddered and slowly, reluctantly, pushed one stump through the bars of the cell. Quickly, the Elder put a tourniquet around it to bring a vein to the surface and inserted a needle. Once he released the tourniquet, thick blood a deeper red than a human's started to flow through the tube into a bag. Kate kept her weapon levelled at it.

The first bag filled quickly and the Elder quickly attached a second. "You're a big boy," he told it when it whimpered. "You can afford it." In the end, he filled five bags and removed the needles. "Good boy. Have a cookie." Pulling a chicken of all things out of one of his other pockets, he tossed it to the demon, who bellowed and tore it apart. Kate felt ill.

"Is that it then?" she asked.

"Yep. If this isn't enough, it won't matter." Gathering up the bags, the Elder led the way back up to the infirmary, hurrying as much as he could without dropping anything. Kate returned the weapon to the lockup, with a mental note to clean it later, and trotted after him.

When they got back, Chrno was on the operating table, his long hair wrapped up in a cloth to keep any stray hairs from getting loose and his lower body covered by a sheet. He was still canted on his side, his head at an uncomfortable angle so that they could put the glass bowl of the anaesthetist over his face. It fed him ether a lot more effectively than a rag and he was still fast asleep.

The doctors had cleaned his body while Kate and the Elder were below, and with his nudity, Kate could clearly see how bad his wounds were. She couldn't help but wince. If he'd been human, he would surely have died immediately. As it was, one of the nurses was holding up his hand so she could put her fingers against his wrist and read off his pulse.

Apparently, they'd only been waiting for the Elder's gift. With prayers that the blood would be compatible, they hooked Chrno up and started, cutting him open further so that they could remove the barbs one by one and then sew his terrible wounds closed.

Kate watched from behind the window, the Elder beside her. It would be a long night and she wondered where Rosette was. Still, better she not be here to see this. Kate was pretty sure she'd be reliving this day in her nightmares for quite a long time to come. Wherever she was now, Rosette was better off.

--0000000--

"Where is it??" Rosette screamed. "WHERE IS IT??"

Frantically, she dug through the rubble, searching. Around her, Remington had the rest of the militia searching as well, along with a few confused citizens who hadn't vacated the area. There was no sign of the watch anywhere. It couldn't be destroyed; she would be dead if it were. But she had to find it. She had to find it. She had to be with Chrno. She had to find it. She had to be with Chrno.

"GODDAMNIT! WHERE IS IT??"

The other nuns stared at her in shock and disapproval as she swore at the sky, threatening death and destruction on whoever had her watch. Running out of words, and air, she plopped down to sit on the edge of Chrno's weapons box with her head buried in her hands, remembered that it was covered in his blood, and leaped off of it, wailing.

Satella gave her a look of disgust. "Calm down," she groused. Dressed in her usual ankle length, low cleavage shirt and heels, with her long hair down to her knees, she was obviously unhappy with having to grub in the dirt and glared at the girl. "He's only a demon."

Immediately, Rosette was right in her face, finger jabbing up under the older woman's chin. "Don't make me kill you."

"Wait!" Azmaria cried, covered in dirt from where she'd been digging. "Please, don't fight!" Neither of the two women moved.

Suddenly, Father Remington was there. "Calm down, everyone. Rosette, why don't you go back to the Order? Chrno needs you and the rest of us can keep looking for your watch."

Rosette looked at him uncertainly. She wanted to go to Chrno desperately, but she couldn't just leave. "Please, Rosette," Azmaria begged. Rosette looked at the girl and a sudden idea came to her.

"Right. Gotta go. See you later. Gonna take Azmaria with me. Need some comfort don't you know. OhshootIhopethisworks." Grabbing the girl by the wrist, she ran for the nearest car. Knowing Rosette's reputation, the nun in charge of the keys didn't want to give them to her, but Rosette accidentally kneed her in the stomach, grabbed them, threw Azmaria in the back, and peeled away as fast as the car could go.

Azmaria peered nervously over the back of the seat. "What are we doing, Rosette?" she whimpered.

Rosette rubbed her eyes of tears and took a corner so fast the car briefly lifted onto one set of tires. "You're the Adept, right? You can heal anyone, right? You can heal Chrno."

"But I lost my powers…"

"You have to try!" Rosette screamed. "He'll die if you don't try!" She went around another corner and hit the highway that would take them to the Order. Wisely, Azmaria didn't say more, though she screamed as Rosette barely avoided a crash at the front steps of the order and nearly yanked her arm out of its socket as she pulled her out of the car. Together, they raced up the stairs of the Order and pelted down the hallway towards the infirmary.

Most of the nuns who hadn't gone on the mission were crowded into the hall, peering through the doorway and window into the infirmary. Rosette pushed past them and into the infirmary itself. It was a large room with recovery beds on the left wall and an operating room on the far side. Sister Kate and the Elder stood before a large window outside it, next to an examining table that was covered in blood and dirt. Rosette dragged Azmaria up beside them and skidded to a halt.

"I brought Azmaria to-" she started and looked inside the operating room.

Chrno lay twisted on the table, a nurse holding a bag of red-black blood over his head while a second held a strange, glass bowl over his nose and mouth. The table and floor under it were red with blood, and as Rosette watched, a doctor grasped one of the thick barbs and drew it smoothly out through Chrno's back, leaving a trail of ichor and blood behind before he dropped it onto the floor with two others.

Rosette fainted.

**Part 4**

Rosette woke to find herself lying in her own bed. For a long minute she lay there, not really awake and wondering if Sister Kate would notice if she skipped early morning prayers in order to sleep some more. She was just rolling over to give it a try when she remembered.

"Chrno!" she gasped and bolted out of bed, halfway down the hallway before she remembered she was in her nightgown. Turning in mid stride, she bolted back to her room, threw on her clothes and habit, and bolted back out the door, nearly tripping over Chrno's weapons box, left there by she didn't know who.

Like before, there were nuns whispering in the hall outside the infirmary. Rosette ran past them and straight into the building. The mess from the night before had been cleaned up, the operating room now spotless and white. Rosette looked both ways and saw one recovery bed to her right with the curtains around it closed. Swallowing, she hurried over and peeked between the panels of thick fabric. A moment later, she sagged in relief.

Chrno was lying in the bed, the sheets pulled up to his chest and his bare arms laid on top of the blue fabric so that a tube could run from a needle in his forearm to a bag of blood hanging over his head. Azmaria sat by his side, cooling his forehead with a damp cloth. His headband was off and the little eyebuds he normally hid under them glinted in the light like blood. His chest was rising and falling slowly and his eyes were closed.

With exaggerated caution, Rosette stepped through the curtains and up beside his bed. She could see the edge of bandages on his chest and swallowed.

Azmaria smiled at her. "He mumbles in his sleep," she whispered. "I heard him say your name once."

Rosette sank into a chair across from the girl's. Her relief to find Chrno still alive was equalled by her horror at how hurt he was. Part of her wanted to shake him madly for being so stupid, but the rest of her was afraid to touch him. She looked at the girl intently. "Try and heal him."

Azmaria looked taken aback. "I already…"

"Try!" Rosette hissed the word. She'd seen Az sing people back from the dead. One hurt little demon couldn't be too hard.

Azmaria flinched, but she obediently started to sing, her beautiful voice filling the room and seeming to lift it. Rosette took Chrno's hand in her own, staring at him intently, but beautiful as Azmaria's song was, the colour didn't come back to his cheeks and he didn't get up and start apologizing the way he should have.

Finally, Azmaria's song ended and her voice faded away. "I'm sorry," she wept a moment later. "I already tried. I've been trying all night. I haven't recovered from using so much that last time."

Rosette wiped her eyes, feeling guilty. "I'm sorry, Az. I should have listened to you."

"…you stopped…" Chrno whispered. "…it sounded nice…"

Surprised, Rosette gripped his hand until a line of pain appeared on his forehead. Letting go, she leaned over the bed, cupping his face instead. Slowly his eyes opened, his pupils fully slitted. It was like looking into a cat's eyes. His pointed ears seemed to be drooping. He would have looked alien if he hadn't also looked so exhausted.

"You're an idiot," Rosette whispered to him.

He took a moment to fully absorb that and smiled. "…am not…"

She stroked his cheek gently, her face only inches from his own. "Nope," she whispered back. "I've got proof and everything."

"…what proof…?"

"You in here with holes in you. They had to use a staple gun to put you back together."

"…oh…" He closed his eyes again for a moment. "…i guess that's proof…"

Rosette smirked. "I win again," she murmured. "I always do." She stoked his cheek once more and he turned his head towards her slightly, inviting her to caress his ear. She obliged, something she normally didn't do and certainly would not have done had she remembered she had an audience. Chrno sighed softly, relaxing.

"Idiot," she reminded him. "Once I find the watch, I'm going to heal you and then I am _so_ going to kick your butt."

His eyes opened again, an unidentifiable look in them. "…the watch…?"

Rosette swallowed and forced herself to keep on stroking his ear before her hands could start to shake. "I lost it, Chrno. But don't worry. I'll find it and I'll break the seal so you can heal. I'll have it by lunchtime, I promise."

Chrno turned his head back to her, his eyes a little less slitted but intense, despite the heavy circles under them. "Rosette… the watch is safe…"

She stared at him, not understanding for the first second. Then she was furious. "You have it!?" she shrieked, jumping up. "Where is it!" Startled, Azmaria grabbed her arm and she heard the nurse hurrying towards them on the other side of the curtains.

Chrno was fading again. "…safe…" he whispered, his eyes closing. A moment later, the nurse came in, cautioning them about upsetting the patient, but Rosette shot her a look that made her step back. She threw herself back down beside the bed again, cupping Chrno's face with both hands and rubbing it gently to keep him awake. He opened his eyes.

"Tell me where the watch is, Chrno," she ordered him evenly. "Please."

"…no… don't want… you… to heal… me…" Rosette reeled back, stunned. "…don't… waste… your… life…"

Furious, she pressed her nose to his, teeth gritted. "It's MY life."

He wasn't moved. "Right now… it's mine…"

"But you could die," she whispered.

"…no… i'll… be okay…" He fell asleep again.

Her face streaked with tears, Rosette straightened up. He was protecting her again. The little bastard was protecting her again. She wanted to take that blood bag and beat him with it.

"All right," the nurse said. "He needs his rest, dearies. It's time to go."

"Don't dearie me," Rosette growled and stormed out. Right now, she just wanted to go to the gun range and shoot something.

**Part 5**

Sister Kate looked up from her papers at a light knock on her door. She normally kept it closed so that she could focus on her work, but it seemed sometimes that she never got out of the room. Some days that made it feel like the office was her sanctuary; other times it felt more like her prison.

Today, it felt like somewhere to hide.

The knock came again and she sighed. "Come in," she called. The door opened and Father Remington came in, his usually smiling face grim. Kate suppressed another sigh. She knew what he was there for; after all, she'd heard what happened in the infirmary from Azmaria and Remington had always been one of Rosette and Chrno's biggest supporters.

"I don't have the watch, Father," she told him.

Remington stopped, his expression a little nonplussed. Then he hid it with a smile as he walked the rest of the way into her office and sat in the chair she kept for visitors. At least for visitors she wasn't yelling at.

"I didn't really think you had," he admitted. "But-"

"But you had to check anyway." Kate leaned back in her own chair, her pen balanced between her two index fingers. "I don't suppose I'm surprised that I'd be considered a suspect. After all, if I did have the watch…"

"You'd lock it up and throw away the key?" Remington smiled.

"Lord knows I'd be tempted," she agreed and put down the pen. Oh, it would be _so_ tempting. A watch that couldn't be touched couldn't be opened. Or so she thought. She'd never asked Rosette about the mechanics of the thing before. The girl was almost hysterically defensive of it after all. Kate supposed she had to be going out of her mind right now with it missing and her demon being so badly wounded. She sighed again without realising it, wondering once more what would happen to Rosette's lifespan if Chrno died.

"It wouldn't save Rosette's life," Remington said evenly and Kate had a moment to wonder if he was talking about her locking up the watch or if he'd read her thoughts about Chrno dying. "Much of her life has already been drained. She can't get that back."

There was a look in his eyes she'd seen before. One that had started many arguments that raged for hours in locked offices where others couldn't see or hear.

Kate clenched the edge of her desk, her fingers turning white. "I will not risk that child's eternal soul, Remington. Not even to save her body."

"We don't know that we would be risking it either," he pointed out.

It was the same old fight. "We don't know that we wouldn't," she snapped. "I've seen cases where that happened. It never turns out well. I've _killed_ humans it was done to."

He shifted in his seat and crossed his legs, shrugging. "The difference is in the intent. Those demons hated those women. It was a matter of control. Chrno loves Rosette."

"If he really loved her, he'd cut his throat rather than take any more of her life force."

"Isn't that what he's doing right now?"

There was an uncomfortable silence for a minute. Kate didn't want to look at the Father. He was wrong about this. "I swore an oath to protect that girl's soul. God will provide another way."

Remington unfolded his legs and stood up. "I guess it doesn't matter right now anyway. Chrno is too weak to do anything. If he dies though, so will Rosette, when her life force runs out. If he lives, she'll die, sooner. If we get off our high horse and actually _tell_ them, she may not have to die at all."

Kate forced herself to look at him evenly. "And if you're wrong and Chrno does try, will Rosette want him to? Will he even be able to? What happens if he can and she doesn't want to? Will he force the issue? What if it doesn't work? What if she becomes something we have to put down? What happens to Chrno then? What happens to Rosette?"

Remington met her gaze for a moment and then turned away. That was the way their arguments always ended, with the pessimist trumping the optimist. Kate relaxed. He wouldn't say anything to either of them and he was right. At this moment, it didn't matter.

"They might find out on their own," he added finally.

"Those books are hidden," she reminded him. Rosette wasn't much of a reader anyway. Neither was Chrno.

"They might _find out_ on their own," he repeated meaningfully.

"Not in this House," Kate snapped. "It can't happen."

He looked at her curiously. "Can't? What did you do? I always wondered why you didn't make Chrno swear _that_ particular oath."

"Nothing," she said. "He didn't have to swear it. There are protections built into the walls of the Order since its construction. Rosette doesn't know."

"Does Chrno?"

"Probably. He couldn't help but realize he's weaker here. But I doubt he ever told Rosette. She would have been in here screaming if he had. Just being here extends her life."

His eyes narrowed. "And shortens his?" Her expression was even. "He won't heal in these walls, will he?"

"I don't know," she admitted. Guilt crossed her face for a moment. "I have to protect Rosette, Father."

"And I have to protect everyone." Turning, he headed for the door. "I have to warn you, Sister. Rosette's on the war path. She knows someone must have that watch. She'll be in here eventually."

Kate sagged. "I know." She was surprised the girl hadn't appeared already.

Remington left without her asking where he was going. She could guess. Every ethic she held dear said to stop him. Said to kill the demon in her House. Said to save the life of the little boy who had no choice but to be what he was. Said to protect Rosette's life. Said to protect Rosette's soul. Altogether, they left her impotent.

At least Remington saw the world less in black and white. Or more. She wasn't sure. She wasn't sure if she had to stop him or help him. Helping the Elder get the blood had been easier. But now… she turned back to her paperwork. Rosette would be coming by eventually. She may as well get as much work done as she could before then, since she doubted she'd be able to get any done afterwards.

--0000000--

Remington walked quickly to the infirmary, after a quick phone call. He couldn't blame Kate for her beliefs. It was just about a miracle that she'd even let Chrno into the Order, and Rosette really didn't know about the oaths she'd made the little demon swear on his own blood when he arrived. There were things he physically couldn't do now, such as hurt any of the nuns. Remington doubted he would have done any of the things he swore not to anyway, but Kate couldn't believe that and she wouldn't take any chances. Demons were supposed to be evil after all.

Remington couldn't blame her for essentially leaving him to die either. She would make sure Chrno got the best care possible, but only in human terms. She couldn't help the demon or it would drive her mad.

Luckily, he was less pristine. Remington smirked as he went into the infirmary and pushed Chrno's curtains back to expose the bed he lay in. The little demon lay in it, fast asleep and so pale that the Father's face hardened. Human medicine wasn't going to be enough for him.

The doctor came over. "What's wrong, Father?"

"How is he doing?" Remington asked, his eyes never leaving Chrno's face. The demon should have woken. Normally only Rosette could sneak up on him while he slept.

"Very weak," the doctor admitted. "A man would have been dead though."

And a demon should have been on his feet. As long as he stayed in the Order, Chrno could only draw on a fraction of what he normally did for day to day living. Enough to survive as long as he went off on missions frequently enough, but not enough to heal from. To remove him would drain more from Rosette, but that was her choice. Remington had always been a big believer in free will and he didn't think Rosette was capable of walking into anything without her eyes wide open.

Of course, now her eyes were going to be opened a hell of a lot wider since she was going to want to know _why_ Chrno was moved and that meant finding out about the oaths and the spells. Remington would leave that little revelation for Kate. Trying to hide his grin though he didn't _really_ like to see Kate suffer, he stepped up beside the bed. Chrno was off the blood now, having emptied all five bags, and Remington wrapped the blankets securely around him before lifting him bodily in his arms as gently as he could. Chrno was frighteningly light.

"What are you doing?" the doctor asked, aghast.

"Taking him somewhere he can actually heal," Remington told him. "Move," he ordered and the doctor reluctantly stepped back.

He headed out the doorway as a muffled groan sounded from somewhere in the mass of blankets he held. "Easy, Chrno," he soothed. "I'm just moving you to a more, um, effective healing place. Go back to sleep."

"…rosette…" he mumbled.

"Oh, don't worry," the Father grinned. "I'm sure she'll realize what's going on real fast."

He headed out of the infirmary and across the grounds towards the garage, making no attempt to hide his progress or the lavender braid that dangled out of the blankets, just in case someone couldn't guess what he was carrying. He didn't know where Rosette was at this particular moment and had no desire to go looking for her. The gossip mill in the Order was just as good as anywhere else though and he was barely passing the fountain when he heard an outraged scream from somewhere behind him.

"Father REMINGTON!!"

Remington kept moving. "Hello, Rosette," he said as she pounded up beside him. "I'm glad you're here. I need you to hold Chrno while I drive."

She stopped before her tirade could even get started. "Drive where?"

"To Satella's. Chrno will be staying there until he heals." He saw the tirade about to start again. "He'll die here," he added and her mouth closed so fast that her teeth clicked together.

"But why?" she whispered. She was hurrying beside him now, reaching out one hand to press against the blankets. Remington wasn't sure what part of Chrno she touched, but he gave a sleepy little mumble.

"Long story," Remington told her. "Ask Sister Kate." She shot him a look that looked uncertain at first and then very quickly enraged. Remington thought she might have taken off to do just that, but they'd reached the garage. He nodded his head at the nearest car that had a big back seat. "Open the back door and get in."

Rosette did as he asked, climbing in, and Remington gently passed Chrno in to her, really hoping that he hadn't pulled any of the boy's stitches. An ambulance would have been better, but he didn't want anyone to know where they were going. Satella was the only one outside the Order he wanted to know where a critically injured Chrno the Sinner was.

Rosette settled in the back seat and took Chrno into her lap, gently unwrapping the blankets until his face was exposed. His face was flushed and his eyes unfocused. He gasped in a clear breath of air and leaned his head against her breast, eyes closing again. Rosette leaned over him, pressing her cheek against the top of his head with a smile.

Remington turned away quickly before they could feel spied on and went to get into the front seat. Little moments like that, spied only when they didn't really think anyone was looking, were why he was prepared to go out of his way for the two. And why he would keep arguing his point with Kate. God said to her that they were doomed and she had to save Rosette's human soul. God said to him that they could both be saved by stepping beyond what they were to what they could be. Neither could agree on which was right and neither could act without the other's agreement.

Remington put the car into gear and drove slowly away, careful to avoid any potholes or bumps. Hopefully he and Kate could resolve their differences before one or probably both of them were gone.

**Part Six**

Satella Harvenheit's New York home was an opulent penthouse condo on top of a forty story building in the heart of downtown, overlooking Central Park.

"Typical," Rosette grumbled, glaring up at it. Chrno missed what she said, asleep on the back seat with his head cradled in her lap, but Remington chuckled as he drove the car around to the back entrance.

Steiner, Satella's butler, stood at the back entrance, his smile half hidden by his grey, handlebar moustache. "Good afternoon," he said with a bow. "Welcome to my lady's home. I have taken the liberty of preparing a room for the young master and obtaining a more comfortable conveyance for him." With that, he trundled out a genuine gurney.

"Where did Satella find this guy?" Rosette whispered, impressed.

"Behave," Remington smiled and opened the back door to get Chrno. The little demon woke with a gasp of pain when the Father moved him, but he had him on the gurney only seconds later and Chrno blinked upwards in confusion as he was carefully rolled into the building, into a wide service corridor leading to a freight elevator.

Rosette took one of his hands in both of her own as they moved towards the elevator. "We're at Satella's," she told him. "Do you understand?"

He blinked at her and smiled. "my rosette."

She smiled back. "That's right. Your Rosette. Where's the watch, you little freak?"

Chrno flinched.

"Easy, Rosette," Remington soothed. "Don't kill the poor boy."

The freight elevator was already open and waiting for them. Steiner helped guide the gurney into it and inserted a key into the control box to send it up to the penthouse. Rosette rubbed Chrno's ear with her thumb as it rose, frowning. Father Remington had said he would die if he stayed at the Order. What did he mean by that? Chrno's eyelashes fluttered as she rubbed his ear, but there was more colour in his cheeks than she'd seen since he was injured.

"He looks a little better," she admitted. Remington looked at her, but didn't say anything. Ask Sister Kate, he'd told her before. Rosette planned to, once Chrno was settled and she was sure Satella was going to keep her hands off him. She did have that bizarre affection for little boys and Chrno was in no position to run like he usually did.

The elevator opened into a storage area filled with crates and bulk foodstuffs, as well as what looked suspiciously like a wine section for a city in the middle of Prohibition. Steiner moved the gurney out of the elevator and down the aisle between the supplies to a larger door.

"Satella getting ready for a war or something?" she asked.

"The mistress merely likes to be prepared, miss," Steiner replied.

Rosette glanced at a crate of canned escargot. "Yeah, right."

The door opened onto a beautifully appointed condo that looked to be worth millions. Rosette stared around for the first few seconds, but Chrno tugged on her arm and she bent over him.

"…don't want… you to heal me…" he told her again, his gaze vague but stern. "…okay?"

"Not okay," she hissed. "I won't let you die on me."

"…won't… promise…"

"Tough. I'm not taking any chances. Where's the watch?"

"….no…"

"Where's the watch, Chrno?"

"…no…"

"WHERE'S THE BLEEPING WATCH, CHRNO??"

Rosette didn't realize her voice was rising until a sultry laugh interrupted her. "Goodness. I didn't know you had such a terrible bedside manner, though I can't say as I'm all that surprised."

Rosette's head shot up. Satella stood in the centre of the room they'd entered, dressed in a satin gown that cost more than all the dresses at the Order combined. She smirked at the nun and sauntered forward to coo over Chrno.

"Oh, baby, are you hurt? Let mommy see." She started tugging at the blankets he was wrapped in. Chrno suddenly had a lot of colour in his cheeks.

"BACK OFF, BITCH!" Rosette screamed.

Satella reared back. "Bitch?? How dare you call me that when I'm letting you into my home?!"

"You're just hoping for a cheap feel, you perv!"

"Jealous?"

"JEALOUS??! OF YOU??"

Chrno looked at Remington like he planned to make a run for it, injuries be damned.

Finally, Remington managed to cough back his laughter and stepped between the two women. "Ladies, please," he said. "Let it go. Ms Harvenheit has been very kind in allowing Chrno to stay here while he heals." He smiled at her. "Thank you, Ms Harvenheit. We appreciate it very much."

"You're welcome," she groused.

"I still don't get why we have to come here," Rosette frowned.

Remington sighed. He'd hoped to leave _all_ the explanations to Kate. "There are ancient protections against demons built into the construction of the buildings at the Order," he told her, hoping she wouldn't blow. "They're there specifically to weaken demons." And to do a few things to humans, he didn't add, though he did think to himself in amusement that they did explain a few things he'd been somewhat alarmed about in the past. "Chrno needs an environment where there won't be anything to impede his recovery."

Rosette gaped, her mouth moving as she thought that through. Her face started to turn pink, but she didn't immediately turn her rage onto the Order. "But why stay here," she argued, glaring at Satella.

"Because Satella knows what Chrno is, and if something does figure out he's here and tries to take a piece out of him, she's tough enough to fight them off."

Satella smirked.

"I'm more afraid _she'll_ try and take a piece out of him."

Satella glared.

"Ladies," Steiner interjected smoothly. "Mr Chrno's room is ready for him if you will allow."

Grudgingly, Satella stepped back and Steiner guided the gurney across the room and into the next wing where the bedrooms were. Rosette walked beside it again, her hand holding Chrno's possessively.

Chrno's room looked to be bigger than the main church floor, the massive bed large enough to hold a dozen people. The sheets were dark blue silk, beautifully smooth and far finer than the suddenly grubby blankets Chrno was wrapped in. Gesturing for Rosette to stand back, the two men unwrapped the demon and transferred him smoothly to the bed. He was only wearing underwear and Rosette's lips tightened at the sight of the bandages crisscrossed over his chest and stomach. His braid was a mess as well but he looked so tired lying there that she didn't know if it would be worth it to redo the braid or just let him sleep. She knelt by the bed.

"Are you going to be all right?" she whispered to him.

His red eyes looked at her. They were heavily slitted again, the pupils a barely visible vertical line against the white. "…i think so… i feel better here…"

She bit her lip. She wasn't sure she believed him about that. He looked terrible. "Why didn't you tell me the Order made you weaker?"

He sighed, looking unsure as to whether it was safe to tell her or not. Rosette stroked her ear and he leaned into it. "…didn't matter…" he admitted finally. "…i had enough… most of the time… and you needed them… to find joshua…"

Meaning he did it for her. Rosette bit her lip guiltily and moved her hand around his ear to where it joined his head, where his horns would have been in demon form before they were ripped out. Rubbing the nerves there usually had the effect of sending him straight to sleep and they worked no less effectively now. Chrno started making a soft little kitten snore, his mouth lax.

Careful not to wake him, Rosette stood and crept back outside the room to where the others waited. She looked up at them evenly, trying as hard as she could not to let any of what she was feeling show on her face. She could still feel a certain dampness at the edge of her eyes though.

"Please watch over him," she told the two men and the woman. "I'm going to the Order." Without waiting for their reply, she ran back towards the freight elevator, Steiner hurrying behind her to let her down. Rosette ignored him, letting the anger inside her grow so that by the time she got back to Sister Kate's office, it would be fully stoked for the fight she knew she was going to have.

**Part Seven**

_(author's note: I found it interesting in one character summary about Chrno that his favourite word is the word "yes". I also wondered how come Aion could be hornless without Chrno's problems. I don't know what the canon explanation is, so this is mine._

_BTW, this story is now writing itself. I have no freaking idea what's going to happen next. I love it when that happens.)_

As full darkness fell, Chrno lay at the edge of that huge bed, thinking to himself foggily how nice it would be to be back in Eden with Shader's healing machines. All he'd have to do was go to sleep in that soft, warm goop of hers and wake up feeling better. None of this weakness and pain to deal with. Not reaching out for Rosette's presence and not being able to feel her. Even if he knew how to contact Shader though, she'd never help him. Not without Aion's approval, and Aion would only agree if Chrno came back to him.

The little demon swallowed at the thought. Aion did want him back, he always wanted him back, even when he drove a taloned fist through his gut and tore off his horns. All to punish him for the impossibility of not killing Madeleine. Probably, Aion would have come to where he fell, once he calmed down, and offered the horns back, but Madeleine made the Contract with him first. Her life force to replace the energy he could no longer draw. There hadn't been any choice. Aion ripped out his own horns, but he got his energy from other demons. Chrno himself had shared his own energy with his brother, making him stronger than he would have been even with the horns. But Chrno himself had no demons to draw from. That left Madeleine's gift.

If he'd known that accepting it would result in her death, he never would have accepted.

Chrno's hand moved under the covers, gently touching his bandaged chest. The wounds hurt very badly and the pain killers he'd been given did no more than take the edge off. They were healing now that he was away from the Order, slowly, his legions struggling to repair the damage with the trickle of energy the watch fed him from Rosette. It would take a long while and he'd be miserable the entire time, but for Rosette to open the watch when he had this many wounds would kill her. He'd seen it with Madeleine. He couldn't bear the thought of seeing it with Rosette.

Not that he wouldn't see it some day anyway. He never should have accepted the Contract with her and just let his last bits of energy drain away, but she'd insisted, and she was so forceful…

…and he'd been bred to obey orders.

Chrno sighed, letting the hand fall back by his side. Demons were like worker bees, always doing what they were told. He was happiest when he was doing what he was told. Aion had been the freak of nature, wanting to be a leader in his own and powerful enough in his personality that he could actually break demons away from obeying Pandemonium. He'd completely dominated Chrno and he'd been happy to submit. Until Madeleine, who'd utterly turned his head around and left him not knowing what to do. _Aion_ hadn't known what to do in the face of that and so he'd tried to kill him.

Then Rosette came and she wholly owned him. To tell her no when she demanded the watch was close to killing him, but he kept seeing Madeleine, and he kept that image in his mind every time he said no. No, I won't let you heal me. No, I won't let you kill yourself. I won't let you die. I won't let you leave me alone or else Aion or someone else might find me and there won't be anything else left but the part that says yes to everything. I want to say yes, Rosette. I want to say yes.

"it's in the weapons box, rosette," he whispered dully. "it's in the weapons box. it is, rosette. yes it is. yes. yes. yes. let me say yes…"

He dozed off to the mantra, no one hearing him in the big empty room except Satella's butler, who hummed under his breath and debated whether or not to tell his Mistress.

Finally, he went to complete the task he'd come for, which was to check the boy's wounds and open the window. He opened the window first, letting the night air in, and then carried the medical box he'd brought to the bedside. Pulling the blankets back, he removed the bandages and began to clean the wounds.

The stitches were black against his pale skin, the edges of the skin between them bubbling an orange froth. Steiner stared at it uncertainly, but he knew infection and that didn't look like it. Finally, he decided that it had something to do with how demons healed and started to rewrap the injuries, more loosely this time so they could breathe.

Chrno's eyes snapped open, not seeing him. "…aion…?" he whispered.

"No, young master. It's Steiner. I've come to clean your wounds."

The demon didn't seem to understand. "...are you there…? …tell me what to do… i don't know… what to do…"

"Steiner?" The butler looked towards the door. Satella stood there, Remington at her side. Quietly, both of them came in, Satella's usual flirtatiousness gone now that Rosette wasn't there to tease. "How is he?"

"Delirious, madam. He's calling for someone named Aion."

Remington frowned. "Bringing him here weakened him more than I thought." He looked out at the night sky and back at the small demon.

"…aion…" Chrno mumbled. "…aion… tell me…?"

"Chrno!" the Father snapped. "Silence!"

"Bossing around sick boys now, Father?" Satella asked dryly.

Remington shot her a wry look. "Do you really want him summoning Aion into your house?" She grimaced. "Chrno, listen to me. Do _not_ call Aion."

"…tell me what to do…"

"Sleep and heal," Remington told him, hoping he sounded forceful enough to hold the demon. He'd seen summoning circles. He knew the rules. It was night, when the energy of the world was dark, which was making Chrno feel confused and wanting someone to be in charge. He couldn't sense Rosette, so he was reaching for the only other person his mind was used to obeying, which unfortunately was Aion. Without Rosette there, Remington would have to force him to focus on him instead. If he could.

Rosette did have rather a talent for domination though, he thought sardonically.

"Sleep and heal," he repeated. "Do _not_ summon Aion. Don't call anyone's name except Rosette's. Do you understand?"

"…yes…" Chrno dozed off completely.

Remington straightened up. "I should have thought of this." Without the Order's protection, his legions could work to heal him more effectively, but without that same protection, Chrno was also vulnerable to all the chaos in the world, which was stronger at night. Rosette would have to stay with him after dusk to keep him under control, just in case he lost it again. None of them wanted Aion here.

"Keep an eye on him," he asked the butler. "I'm going to call Rosette back." Kate would appreciate that, he was sure. The butler bowed.

Satella followed him out of the room. "How much of a problem is this going to be?" she asked.

"With him calling for his old demon friends? A big one." He sighed. There was one way around that, though Kate would have an aneurysm if she heard about it. He grinned at her. "Rosette will be able to control him when she gets here and I do know one way to keep anything he says from echoing accidentally to the wrong ears. Do you have any chalk?"

Satella blinked.

Back in the room, Chrno slept, mumbling Rosette's name under his breath while the old butler watched, listening carefully for the little demon to say any other names. Behind him at the open window, a great eagle landed silently, peering in at them.

"…aion…" Chrno mumbled suddenly and the bird took off again while Steiner went to inform his mistress.

**Part Eight**

Sister Kate realized that Sister Rosette was back a half second before the door to her office slammed open so hard that the doorknob embedded itself into the wall on the inside. She managed not to flinch at that or the expression on the young nun's face as she stormed in. It was after dark and the warm light of the lamps gave everything a homey glow that neither of them felt.

"I want to know what's going on. I want to know what this place is doing to Chrno and where my pocket watch is!"

Kate folded her hands on the desk, watching the girl evenly. She wasn't looking forward to this confrontation, but she wasn't going to back down from it either.

"I don't have your watch," she told the girl. "I don't know who does."

Rosette glared at her as if she thought she might be lying, but Kate met her gaze unflinchingly with her own. Rosette didn't drop her eyes, but her sudden snarl showed she believed her, even if she didn't want to.

"So what is this dump doing to Chrno?"

"This isn't a 'dump', it's the Holy Order of Magdelena. It was never designed to be a haven for demons, no matter who wants to keep one as a pet."

"Chrno isn't a pet!" Rosette shrieked. "He's my friend! What is this place _doing_ to him??"

Kate's lips thinned. Calling Chrno a pet had been a bad move, but Rosette always got her going so easily. She just had so much potential and that demon was killing her. "The walls of the Order are spelled to weaken demons, to make it so any who try to enter can only use a small part of their power, as well as to identify their location at all times."

Rosette stared at her. "You mean you always know where Chrno is when he's here?"

"Yes."

No wonder he kept refusing to carry her laundry to her room, Rosette thought sickly.

"That's not fair!" she shrieked. "He has rights!"

"No he doesn't. He's a demon. The only reason he's alive is because _you_ have rights."

A little vein started to bulge on top of Rosette's forehead and her hand twitched towards the gun she wore on her hip. Vaguely, Kate wondered if she'd try to use it.

"I don't have to put up with this," she grated, her face a brilliant red.

"Yes, you do," Kate told her flatly. She'd had enough of these illusions. "You came to the Order to find your brother. To do that, you had to accept our rules, which you _did_. You are a nun of the Holy Order of Magdelena whether it's convenient to you or not. _Chrno_ seems to have a better understanding of that than you do. So grow up, girl!"

Rosette reeled as though she'd been slapped. Kate wondered what she'd come back with, whether she'd question how Kate knew that about Chrno, which would lead to her finding out about the bindings put on him by the Order, or if she'd just choose to attack, or even agree that Kate was right.

Instead, the phone rang. Kate answered it smoothly, never taking her eyes off her opponent. "Yes?" She listened for a moment and then held the receiver out. "It's for you."

Rosette blinked and took the phone, leaning over the desk so that the cord would be long enough. "Yes?"

_"Rosette,"_ Kate heard Father Remington say, _"Get back here. Chrno's getting worse."_

Her brilliantly red face went white so fast Kate thought she might faint. "Is he okay?"

_"No. He's hallucinating. You're the only one who can control him. Hurry."_

Rosette bit her lip. "Okay. I'm coming." She hung up the phone and looked straight at Kate. "I hate you," she said and ran out.

"I know you do," Kate sighed. She could deal with that though, if it saved the girl's soul.

--0000000--

Rosette sprinted back to her room first, to grab some extra clothes. She didn't plan to set foot in the Order again until Chrno was fully recovered, if then. After what they did to Chrno…

Except she needed them if she was ever going to get Joshua back.

"Oh, applesauce," she swore as she threw the door to her room open and ran in.

Chrno's weapon's box was there, dumped unceremoniously in the centre of the room. Rosette glared at it and then threw the doors open. Most of the weapons and ammo had fallen into the bottom of the box in a haphazard mess and there was a lot of dried blood, but she didn't care. She tossed some clothes on top and some extra ammo kept in a weapons locker in the corner of her room. Shutting it, she went to throw the box on her back and nearly threw her back out at the weight. Finally, she was forced to drag the heavy thing down the corridor, cursing the entire way and guaranteeing that anyone who was still awake didn't come to help her. It was Chrno's though and she wasn't leaving it. Besides, not having her own personal armoury close at hand made her feel naked.

She dragged the box all the way outside the barracks and dropped it while she ran to get the car. Driving it back, she took it over the grass and halfway up the stairs so that she didn't have to drag the box again more than a few feet. Groaning, she hefted the box into the trunk and slammed the lid. Then spent five minutes trying to get the car to start again before she bounced down the steps and roared off across the grass, making sure to do a few donuts in Sister Kate's petunias on the way.

That done, she headed for Satella's penthouse as fast as she could go, weaving through the light traffic with one foot on the gas and one hand firmly on the horn. "Don't do anything stupid until I get there, Chrno," she muttered.

Overhead, the sky was lightly clouded, the moon illuminating them so that she could clearly see the road and the bat-winged figure that flew overhead, well clear of the traffic she had to deal with.

"Oh, applesauce!" Rosette shrieked, flooring the car and trying not to kill herself or anyone else while she wished she'd put Chrno's box with its phone on the seat beside her instead of in the trunk. Granted, it wasn't like she knew Satella's number anyway.

"Damnit!" she screamed. "Chrno!"

--0000000--

Aion landed neatly on the windowsill of the entrance that had been left so conveniently open for him.

"You're going up in the world, Chrno," he said, looking around and impressed at what he saw. Wings folding neatly against his back, he pushed his glasses up his nose and stepped down into the room, his white armour gleaming in the moonlight as he looked at the little figure in the bed.

He could smell Chrno's wounds from across the room, just as he'd been able to hear him call his name from across the country. The night was in his head, leaving his defences open and his soul vulnerable. Aion smiled. He'd been waiting years for this. "Where's your little bitch, Chrno?" he whispered as he crossed the room and stepped up beside the bed. Chrno mumbled in his sleep, twitching. His legions were struggling to heal him, but they had so little energy to do it with. His body was crying out for astral.

"So how can I deny you?" Aion whispered. Bending down, he slipped an arm under the smaller demon, lifting his body up so that he could press their lips together.

**Part Nine**

It wasn't a kiss in the normal, human sense of the word. As their mouths met, Aion exhaled astral into Chrno's body, just the way he'd taken it from him so many times, just how he'd taken it from all his followers before he left for this visit. Chrno sucked it down eagerly and took more, his legions feeding off it madly and using it to heal his injuries.

"Come back to me," Aion whispered, letting his mind sink into Chrno's weakened, wide open one, back into all the places he used to be, before Madeleine forced him out. "Obey me, Chrno. Obey me."

"…aion…"

"Shit!" Aion jerked his head around at the sound and saw Father Remington coming towards the bed, astral sword swinging straight at him. Dropping Chrno, he jumped out of the way, head spinning from how much energy the smaller demon had taken. He barely had enough to keep his demon form.

Chrno bounced against the bed as the sword swept by over him and sat right up again, his eyes completely red as he went deeper under Aion's control. The white-haired demon smirked, but Father Remington held two fingers up before the boy's face. "By the command of the Holy Order of Magdalena," he intoned in Latin, "By the obedience you swore, sleep." Chrno crumpled back against the pillows, his connection to Aion breaking.

"What did you do to him?!" Aion screamed. "He was mine!"

"Not anymore," Remington growled and charged.

He should have taken Chrno and run the minute he arrived, Aion thought, instead of being all dramatic and fuzzy. Then that damn priest wouldn't be trying to cut his head off while he was too weak to do more than dodge him. Remington swung that great, bloody blade and Aion ducked, intending to gut that man with his talons before he could bring the cutting edge back around. Remington changed the direction of his swing though, bringing the _hilt_ back instead and slamming it into Aion's nose. The tall demon swore and reeled back, wiping the blood away as the priest reversed the sword back into a regular attack stance.

The two men stared at each other, both hating the other so intently that Aion could feel it. Slowly, Aion inched towards the bed, but the priest stepped to block him. "Chrno is mine," Aion told him. "Since the day he hatched he's been mine."

"Then you shouldn't have thrown him away," Remington retorted. "He's Rosette's now."

As if he had any intentions of letting that blonde bitch keep him. He might kill Chrno; he might leave him to die. But he wouldn't let him be stolen by some human weakling who would rape his mind. Only the mind of another demon deserved to hold Chrno. Only a Sinner should.

Aion did a quick draw of the sword at his side and lunged. Remington blocked and Aion used his momentum to roll past him and leap up onto the bed. Grabbing Chrno by the wrist, he yanked him up. He'd take him somewhere quiet and finish what he started without interruption.

At the sudden pain, Chrno woke, his eyes wide. Seeing Aion, they widened even further and he punched him with his free arm. It felt like the fluttering of butterfly wings and Aion grinned, slamming his dominance down on the smaller demon. Chrno shuddered, unable to resist him, but Aion didn't have the time to go as deep or as permanently as he'd like. He just grabbed enough to keep Chrno from fighting back or struggling.

Remington roared. Aion leaped back out of the reach of his sword, swinging Chrno around so that the priest had to pull his strike or chop the little demon in half. For a moment, the priest stared in horror into Chrno's glazed eyes, and then they both heard a new voice.

"Laden! Erscheinen ritter juwel!"

A knight in glowing armour that seemed to be three times his size appeared out of nowhere, swinging at him. Aion swore and pulled Chrno around, but this thing didn't pull its punches. The blow hit them both. Aion hit the carpet painfully on his back and looked up to see Chrno fly across the room, slamming into the window and its frame so hard that he shattered both the glass and wood outwards and was gone.

"Chrno!" Remington screamed.

"Shit!" Not when he was this close. Aion rolled to his feet and dove out the window. Chrno fell limply below him, lavender hair trailing along with the broken glass. Aion went into a full power dive, well aware of how close to the ground was getting as he reached for the smaller demon, his hands barely reaching him and pulling him close.

He spread his wings. They were more for steering and control when he flew and now he flooded them with most of the astral he had left to give them the power to slow their descent. They did, letting him drop his legs down below him before he alit on the sidewalk below the building, fully human in form.

Chrno was still locked in the fugue state he'd left him in, blood running down his sides from the glass. Aion ignored that, holding the boy up by the throat, face only inches from his own.

"You are mine," he chanted, trying to get that lock down on Chrno's mind while he was still vulnerable. His chances of surviving his wounds long enough to get to Shader's healing machines were greater if his will became Aion's. He would be his determination for him until he was through this, and so fully Aion's again that he'd never think of another human. Aion would make sure he never saw one either, not for the next several centuries if that was what it took.

"Chrno… chrno…" He flooded into his mind, overwhelming images of laughter and play and friends. He dove deeper, subsuming everything he found, crooning Chrno's name until he rounded a corner and found a blonde girl in a nun's headdress standing there.

"Chrno is mine," she growled.

Then she threw Aion out. He reeled, shaking his head, and looked up to see that it wasn't an image only that he'd seen. Rosette Christopher stood only a dozen feet away, a gun pointed at him. "Let him go," she snapped.

Aion hissed and lifted Chrno high enough to cover his face. "I don't think you're a good enough shot to hit me without hitting him as well," he started.

Rosette shrugged and shot him in the leg.

Aion howled at the unexpected pain and threw Chrno at her. She dropped her gun to try and catch him and Aion ran, hobbling away as fast as he could and so angry that he could have killed them all. All he could do was escape though, before either that nun decided to come after him or Remington arrived. He vanished into the darkness, still swearing.

Rosette watched him leave, kneeling on the ground with Chrno's head in her lap. She didn't know what happened, but his body was lying on the ground funny and his eyes were… blank.

"Chrno?" she whispered. "Hey, Chrno?" He didn't answer. "Chrno?" Nothing. "CHRNO! WAKE THE HELL UP!"

Chrno shuddered and obeyed, his eyes blinking back to pained awareness. "Rosette?" he whispered. "You're here! Oh thank goodness!"

Rosette smiled, stroking his cheek gently as Remington appeared at the door to the building, Satella close behind him. "Of course I am, dummy. This is where I belong."

**Part Ten**

"So tell me," Satella asked. "Is the Order going to compensate me for the damage to my condo?"

"I don't know," Remington answered evenly. "Is it our mistake your jewel knight punched an invalid through the front wall?"

Satella grimaced. "That wasn't my fault. I was trying to help."

Tell that to Chrno's broken ribs, Remington didn't respond with. Aion had managed to heal most of Chrno's original injuries, but getting thrown around the way he did created a whole bunch of new ones. The boy had the worst luck. He probably could have stood to have more surgery, but they couldn't take him back to the Order. They couldn't leave him at Satella's either, not now they knew Aion was after him.

He looked around at the hotel suite they were staying in now. Satella was paying for it, fortunately, as neither he nor Rosette could afford anything big enough.

They'd pushed all of the furniture out of the main room and brought a bed in. It sat in the centre of the room, surrounded by an ornate chalk circle designed very specifically to contain a demon. It was the sort of summoning circle Remington normally worked to destroy, but this one he'd drawn himself. Within it, a demon's power was contained. Remington looked at the small demon lying in the bed. Hopefully, Aion wouldn't be able to track him now.

Hopefully, that break would give Chrno the time he needed to recover. After the battle with Aion though, Remington had his doubts. The little demon was in serious trouble.

"Come on," he suggested to Satella. "We should let him rest."

"Will it do any good?" Satella asked softly as she followed him out of the room, but the priest didn't answer.

In the bed, Chrno lay on his side under the covers, gaze locked on Rosette's, who lay on top of them. It was a little weird, but it seemed to keep him from feeling any pain, which had to be a good thing. Reaching out with a handkerchief, she wiped a bit of blood from the corner of his mouth and tried not to worry. He'd been coughing it up for a few hours now, but other than letting him stare into her eyes and go into that weird hypnotic state he was in, she didn't know what to do.

For his part, Chrno didn't feel his body. Aion had opened him wide and now he was saturated with Rosette. He could feel her all through his being and he was lost in her. If she'd been a demon, she'd have been able to realize how far into him she'd reached, but as a human, she just let him be part of her. She wasn't making any demands, she wasn't telling him what to think or feel. She was heaven, and unaware of it, he slipped ever closer to death, lost in her eyes.

"Chrno," she whispered to him. "Can you hear me?"

"…yes…" It was so easy.

"You're dying, aren't you?" she asked with a little whimper.

Was he? Distantly, he became aware of it. Something was broken inside him. It didn't matter. "…yes…"

She fought back tears. Could Aion have saved him? Did she make a mistake coming to the rescue? But would Chrno ever be hers again if she had? What did Chrno want?

"What do you want, Chrno?" she asked.

He couldn't answer her with anything less than total honesty. "…just you… with me forever…"

She smiled and reached to stroke his cheek. He hummed and moved closer to her. Immediately more blood bubbled up at his lips and she winced and wiped it away. "I want to stay with you forever too," she admitted and he smiled. "Which means you can't die!" He frowned, pulling slightly out of the trance. His Contractor wanted something from him. His liege. He had to obey. A moment later, he started coughing again, bringing up bright blood.

"Chrno!" Rosette gasped. He was dying right in front of her. "Don't leave me!"

Chrno tried to obey, but his legions were weak, the extra astral Aion gave him used up, and he was starting to convulse. "Chrno!" Rosette cried again and in desperation caught his face between both of her hands, looking into his eyes the same way Aion did when he tried to wash over his mind. "Where is the watch, Chrno? Tell me where the watch is."

"…weapons box…" he gasped. "…weapons…"

Rosette dove off the bed, scrambling for the other room. Desperately, she threw the box open and dumped it over, sending weapons and ammunition rolling across the floor. The watch was at the very bottom, battered but intact. Remington came in through the other door as she leaped up.

"Rosette?"

"I found it! The little sneak had it hidden the whole time." She grinned at him triumphantly and turned back into the main room. Chrno lay there, inside the circle she'd broken when she ran through it.

"Rosette," Remington said worriedly behind her. "You broke the circle. I warned you not to break the circle. There's a backlash when you do."

"What are you talking about, Father-" She hurried up beside the bed and stopped. Chrno was lying on his back, staring at the ceiling. He wasn't breathing.

"NO!" she shrieked, clawing at the watch. He wasn't supposed to do that. He wasn't allowed to do that! The watch's seal snapped open and she winced, waiting for the intense pain that the draw always caused her.

Nothing happened.

"Chrno! Don't you dare!" Before she realised it, Rosette was kneeling on the bed, slapping the demon back and forth across the face, shrieking at him to wake up and stop lying there. Remington went to grab her, but she elbowed him in the chest, still roaring at Chrno that he couldn't die, he wasn't allowed to die, and he had to obey her or else she'd never forgive him.

Chrno sucked in a sudden breath.

Instantly, pain shot through Rosette and she couldn't breathe herself as she tumbled backwards off the bed, writhing in agony. It always felt this way, the feel of the life pouring out of her excruciating to the point where it almost made her want to die.

This time, she welcomed it, because it was life flowing into Chrno. She saw his hand, hanging limp over the side of the bed, grow, become clawed, and then a wing shot out over the side as well, black and warm. Remington grabbed her, pulling her out of the way, and she watched from his arms as the little boy form grew, becoming a demon with long, lean limbs, bone protrusions on his cheeks and shoulders, and a whip like vertebrae coming out of the back of his head.

He glowed white hot with astral, the power of it lifting him off the bed as the blankets fell away. He was nude, Rosette realised dimly, and wondered if she was blushing as Satella exclaimed in the background.

He was also still unconscious, with his legions not knowing what to do. "Wake up, Chrno," she whispered. "Please. Don't waste me." She could feel the years draining out of her. Aion had to be feeling this as well and she prayed he wasn't coming.

A moment later, Remington stepped forward and slapped the demon hard across the face.

That worked. Chrno gasped and bounced back onto the bed, still glowing but now wrapping around himself and willing the legions to heal his injuries. Rosette sighed in relief and he looked up at her, his hair falling across his face. Quickly, he crawled off the bed and over to her, wrapping arms and wings both around her.

"Close the watch," he begged. "Please!" He tried to take it from her, but she put a hand over it, looking at the ridges of ribs healing under his skin.

"Not until you're healed, Chrno." She looked at his eyes. "My choice."

He wanted to disobey her, she saw, but she was still too deep in his mind. He closed his eyes and wept instead, holding her.

Finally, the watch snapped closed and a twelve year old boy held her, long lavender hair tangled around her instead of wings. Rosette let him, smiling in victory.

"I told you I always win," she whispered.

**Part Eleven**

Slowly, Chrno made his way down the corridor, carrying a covered tray. He wasn't completely healed- Rosette hadn't had that much life left in her- and he winced in exhaustion. The walls of the Order pulled at him, sapping his strength, but he didn't care. Every bit that didn't go into him stayed in Rosette. He would have killed himself to give her a few more days if she hadn't clearly ordered him not to. The doors Aion had abused while he was hurt were closing now, but not so much so that he could defy Rosette. Her word was absolute law and the demon in him revelled in it, even as he wept.

Chrno went around a corner and stopped, looking up at Sister Kate. She studied him for a long moment that made his arms start to tremble wearily.

"I see you're feeling better," she said at last.

Chrno looked down. "A little. I'm still tired."

"And Rosette is paying for that health."

Chrno wondered if she could maybe just kick him in the head or shoot him, since that would hurt less. "Yes," he whispered.

She sniffed. "And what exactly are you planning to do once that girl dies?"

He clenched the tray so hard his fingers hurt, head bowing over more. "I don't know…" He could barely make the words audible.

"You think you deserve to live after what you've done to her?"

A tear splashed onto the top of the tray. "…no…" But she'd made the order. He was to live. Live on. Live forever. Except he'd die without astral to sustain him, unless he went back to Aion and he wouldn't do that.

He looked up at the nun. "Do you have somewhere… where you could lock me up… after? So I couldn't hurt anyone anymore?"

Her eyebrows rose and then a look of compassion filled her face. "Yes, Chrno. I do."

His shoulders sagged in relief. "Thank you. Don't tell Rosette. She'd order me not to go." Slowly, he made his way around her and continued down the hall.

Kate watched him go, grieving some for the little demon. He did repent his actions, but the actions were still there. She couldn't give him absolution, but she could give him peace. The deepest section of the church held cells which would put him outside of time. He wouldn't suffer there, or cause anyone else to suffer. It was a sidestep away from genuine punishment, but she suspected he was suffering enough.

Kate kept walking. She'd wait for him to come to her. Much as she regretted it, she suspected that the wait wouldn't be long.

Chrno went to Rosette's room, juggled the tray onto one arm, and knocked.

"Come in," he heard Azmaria say and opened the door.

Azmaria sat beside the bed, smiling at him, but Chrno barely saw her. Instead his gaze locked onto his Contractor, lying in the bed. She had some good days now, but most days she was too weak to get out of bed, and he was the one who had done this to her. He bit his lip to keep himself from crying. Rosette hated it when he cried.

"I brought you some lunch," he told her, setting the tray down on the nightstand.

Rosette looked at it and then up at him. "You really shouldn't be here," she told him. "It slows down your recovery." Was she going to order him away? Chrno tensed, ready to fight that with everything he had left. "But I'm glad you're here." He sagged and sat beside her on the bed, taking her hand.

"Are you feeling better today?" he asked.

"She is," Azmaria smiled. "We were just playing 'I spy'."

Rosette chuckled. "Az is pretty good at it. Do you remember playing I spy with me and Joshua, Chrno?"

"Of course," he whispered. She looked so pale, most of her life force gone. He'd done this to her, for being too stupid to pay attention.

Rosette reached out to touch his face and Chrno leaned into her touch. "I hate it when you're sad," she murmured. "It's not your fault." He shook his head. "I tell you it's not. I don't have any regrets. Seeing you leave me would have been worse."

"Except now you're going to leave me instead," he gasped, tears falling from his eyes despite his best intentions.

Her face tensed, her eyes lined with shadow. "I'm sorry," she told him. "I'm so sorry."

He grabbed her hand, kissing her cheek. "Don't be. I'd do anything to save you. Anything at all."

Beside them, Azmaria was weeping. "I feel so bad for you! Can't Sister Kate and Father Remington help?"

They both looked at her. "They can't do anything, Az,"

"But I heard them," the girl protested. "When I was bringing Sister Kate tea. I heard them arguing through the door. There's a way to save you both, but they can't agree on whether it would work. Sister Kate thinks it won't, but Father Remington says it will." Her voice dropped off. "You didn't know?"

They gaped at her in shock. A second later, Chrno had one of Rosette's guns in his hand and was racing out of her room and down the hall, his own heartbeat ringing in his ears. He sprinted out of the barracks and across the square, scattering startled nuns like geese as he bolted into the main administration building and down the hall to Sister Kate's office. She was just sitting down at her desk when he burst in and leaped at her, skidding to a halt on his knees atop the desk, gun pressed firmly against her forehead. Her eyes were shocked.

"Tell me how to save Rosette's life," he growled. "Or I'll end yours."

**The End**


	3. Demons

**DEMONS**

By Hydraa

_(Author's note: This is the sequel to "To Find the Watch" and starts about two minutes after that story ends._

_Rated "R" for the kiddies)_

---

Everything was frozen. Chrno knelt on Sister Kate's desk, Rosette's gun leveled at her head. She sat back in her chair, gripping the arms and glaring at him. Around them, a dozen armed nuns and priests had their own weapons aimed at the demon. No one moved.

"Tell me how to save Rosette," Chrno growled. "I know you know how."

Her eyes narrowed. "By the command of-"

He pressed the gun against her forehead so harshly that she felt the skin bruise. "Finish _that_ sentence and I'll blow your head open."

Sister Kate sniffed. "You can't," she reminded him. "You took Oaths when you came here to not harm anyone. I can see how much pain you're in just by bluffing." He was. She could see him shaking and his skin was damp with sweat. To not cause harm was only one of the Oaths she'd bound him with when he first arrived, but it was the strictest. She was amazed he had the strength to hold that gun up.

Chrno's lip curled. "Stupid. My Contractor is in danger. My Oaths to _her_ outweigh my Oaths to _you_."

Kate tensed. Was he right? Could he actually shoot her? Or would his heart explode in his chest if he tried? For the first time, she wasn't sure.

"This won't solve anything," she reasoned. "You…"

"Save Rosette!" he screamed. "Save her! You have to!"

He was losing any sense of rationality. Desperately, Kate tried to think what to do. If the militia fired, someone would get hit in the crossfire and the chance of _her_ ending up with a Sacred in her skull was rather high. The holy water wouldn't hurt her, but the lead it was encased in certainly would.

"I wish I could save Rosette," she told him, as softly as she would when speaking to a child. "I truly do. But that's not God's will. Her place is in Heaven now, at His side."

Chrno quivered. "I don't want her to go to Heaven!" he yelled, tears coming out of his eyes. "I want her to stay here with me! She has to stay here!"

"You would deny her eternity?" Kate asked him reasonably.

The demon, locked in the form of a twelve year old boy with a long, lavender braid, blinked, real pain behind his eyes. She was getting to him; not to change his mind, but to confuse him, and to weaken his insane determination to fight against the Oaths.

"Why does she need it now?" he whimpered. The gun was shaking in his too small hands. It really was too big for him and Kate knew he was tired.

Kate forced herself to relax, to act as though he wasn't a threat. "It's her time. You guaranteed that, after all."

"NO!" he shrieked. "I'll kill you!" He tried to pull the trigger. Kate saw him go to do it, but his finger wouldn't move. He gaped at it, unable to understand. "…what…?"

Kate stood, twisted the weapon out of his hand, and held two fingers up before his face. "By the command of the Holy Order of Magdalena, sleep."

Chrno bucked, swaying on his knees, and crumpled over, his head thudding loudly against the wood of her desk as he fell over onto his side. The militia started to relax, but Kate gestured for them to be careful. Chrno was fighting the command, shuddering bonelessly and gasping for breath, his eyes wide and unfocused.

Kate knelt down, feeling compassion for the demon even now. He couldn't help but be what he was, which was why he was so dangerous. "Rest now, Chrno," she told him softly. "I have that place I promised you. We'll take you there now." She'd intended for him to witness Rosette's death, but she saw now that was too cruel. She was not a woman given to making others suffer, even demons. "You won't feel pain anymore."

Chrno's eyes fluttered, his mouth and tongue trying desperately to say something. "By the command of the Holy Order of Magdalena," she repeated gently. "Sleep."

This time the command worked. Chrno's eyes closed and he relaxed.

Kate straightened up, feeling very much like a drink and a hot bath. Or a few hours singing hosannas in the church. That had been far too close.

"Bind him with the blessed rope," she ordered, "and blindfold him. We'll take him to the cells for containment."

"No, you won't," a new voice hissed.

Startled, Kate looked up. Standing in the doorway to her office, dressed only in a linen shift, Rosette levelled a machine gun at her.

"Not unless you've got some sort of crappy spell that works on me," she added.

---000---

For a long moment, Sister Kate wondered when she'd lost control of the situation so badly, but then again, when had she ever been in control with this one? Kate stood over Rosette's unconscious pet demon, staring at the girl, and wondered how she was going to explain this.

For her part, Rosette was so angry she was almost sure steam was rising from her ears. After Azmaria's revelation that Sister Kate and Father Remington had a way for them to survive, Chrno had been out of the room so fast that he didn't even hear her shouting for him to wait. It had taken her a few minutes to drag herself up, grab a weapon, and follow him. She'd seen the militia scrambling to Kate's office, but still it took her long minutes to get there, praying all the while that she wouldn't hear any gunshots.

Instead she arrived to find Chrno lying on top of Sister Kate's desk, sleeping because she told him to. Her lip curled, her face burning red with anger. "What did you do to him?" she snarled.

Sister Kate folded her hands in her habit, her face as impassive as always, though Rosette could detect a trickle of sweat on her temple. "I kept him from hurting someone, Sister Rosette. He was becoming very dangerous."

Yes, Rosette could believe that. She hugged the butt of the machine gun against her side. "I was told you have a way to save my life."

Sister Kate stiffened. "I'm afraid you heard wrong."

"Why's that? What is this supposed cure anyway?"

The Sister only shook her head. "Nothing that wouldn't destroy your soul and doom you to an eternity in Hell. Come, Rosette. Put the gun down."

Rosette looked at Chrno. He was so still… "Get away from him," she snarled. "Nobody touches him."

"Be reasonable, Rosette. I know you. You would never hurt an innocent."

"Don't bet on it." She saw one of the militia look between them uncertainly and shifted the muzzle towards him. "Don't move," she ordered, but as she did, Kate picked up the weapon Chrno had brought and pressed it against the side of his head.

"PUT THAT DOWN!" Rosette screamed, weapon aimed back at her.

Sister Kate's face was filled with regret. "I won't let him destroy your soul, Rosette. Put the gun down and he'll be incarcerated in a cell where time is frozen. He won't feel your life end or suffer for it. If not, I'll have to shoot him."

Rosette hesitated. Kate would do it. She _hated_ Chrno. Her face flushed, trying to think of what to do. She stared at Chrno's small form, mind racing. "Okay," she stammered. "Just take the gun off him. I promise I'll put my weapon down."

The nun looked in her eyes and nodded. "I trust your word, Rosette. Bless you." They both lowered their weapons.

A moment later, Rosette flung her weapon at Kate, leaving her scrambling to catch it. "Chrno!" she screamed. "WAKE UP! RUN!"

---000---

On the desk, Chrno started out of sleep, ears ringing from Rosette's command. His defences had been torn down by Aion when he was injured, his demon compulsion to obey brought to full force. Rosette was his Contractor. She was his liege, threaded through his mind the way Aion had wanted to be. He was relearning to resist, but with Rosette, he didn't want to.

Chrno dove off the desk, rolled back onto his feet, and threw himself at the window, all without any real conscious thought. He smashed through the glass and landed at a dead run, sprinting for the far wall of the Order.

Kate was apoplectic. "Catch him!" she screamed at the militia. "Don't let him get away!"

Startled and confused, but still well trained, the militia moved to obey, some of them heading out the door past Rosette, others climbing through the window. In seconds, Rosette was alone in the office with Kate.

The nun turned towards her, her expression livid as Rosette laughed under her breath, genuinely amused. "You'll never catch him," she said. "All of Pandemonium couldn't catch him." The laughter turned into a ragged cough and she dropped to her knees, clutching her chest.

A moment later, Kate knelt beside her, gently draping a blanket around her shoulders. "You'll be the death of me, child. What do you think you're doing, running around the Order in your nightclothes?"

Rosette shivered even with the blanket, utterly exhausted. "I didn't want you to hurt Chrno." She looked up at her. "There isn't a way to save me?"

Kate shook her head sadly. "I wish there were." Carefully, she helped Rosette stand. "Let's take you back to your room." As they went down the hall, a staccato of gunfire sounded in the distance. Rosette tensed, but Kate's hopes weren't that high. "You're probably right. We'll never catch him."

"Yeah." Rosette sighed. "Only he won't live much past me without my astral and I don't want him to die alone."

Kate kept an arm around her shoulder and walked with her, pretending all the while that she couldn't hear the girl weeping.

---000---

Chrno sprinted across the grass of the square, his legs shorter than his pursuers but still wickedly fast. He couldn't use his full speed; Rosette's energy only came to him in a trickle and even that he couldn't use fully, not with the ancient spells written into each block of the Order. They limited his powers as they did all demons, and on top of them were Oaths he'd been forced to swear that kept him from using magic, from transforming, from doing anything that would distinguish him from a little boy. He'd tried once to break the seal on the Order's grounds, in order to protect Rosette, but it had been impossible. She could have died that day while he struggled with his impotence.

Now he struggled to run faster, his only thought to _get away_, to obey his Contractor. He'd worry what to do next once that order was accomplished.

Behind him, armed militia raced to catch up, panting heavily. A woman in blue skirts appeared on his left, looking at him intently as he dodged around three screaming novices and she edged about a rose bush. A man drew up on his right, hissing through gritted teeth. Chrno knew both of them, had worked with them in the past, but there was no compassion for him in their eyes. Probably not after he'd shoved a gun in their leader's face, he thought dimly and swerved around a fish pond. That brought him uncomfortably close to the man and he swung his weapon around, trying to catch the demon in the head with the butt. Chrno ducked and started to dodge back, but the woman had moved in to where he had been and he was running out of room to go anywhere but forward. He could also hear boot heels running behind him. The woman pressed closer, the man dropping to the side a bit, and suddenly he realized they were herding him, towards the courtyard of the garage with its twelve foot stone walls.

He couldn't let that happen. Chrno sucked in a deep breath and tried to run faster, pushing his still recovering legions until they howled inside him from pain. He moved faster though, slowly putting distance between him and the militia until he could head away from the garage towards the shorter, front walls, and they couldn't hem him in any more. He cleared a hedge, barely, and dashed for the walls, gasping.

Behind him, he heard the man curse and something grabbed hold of the hugely long braid he wore. It tangled in some of the looser hairs, pulling them painfully free, but Chrno tightened his neck and bolted forward even faster, trying to get loose before they got a solid hold and pulled him back enough to club or shoot him. The grip slid down his braid and caught on the yellow ribbon Rosette always used to tie it. A moment later it was pulled free and his braid swung loose. He felt a pang at the loss but kept running. The front wall was only a few hundred feet away.

Behind him, a motor sounded, someone finding a car, and he heard the engine roar as it came up behind him fast. Chrno didn't look back, but he could hear it getting closer, about to run him over. He made his legions give him everything they had left and leapt for the walls, hands clawing for the six foot height and dragging him up. The car screeched to a halt behind him, the driver cursing, and the militia he'd been outrunning jumped to grab his dangling foot. Chrno pulled himself up though and rolled over the top, ducking under a spurt of Sacreds fired at him. He landed on the far side, on ground that was no longer holy or ensorcelled, and his energy levels surged in him. By the time the militia climbed the wall, he was out of sight.

---000---

Father Ewan Remington was furious, not that he let it show. "So they both asked you point blank about how to save her and you lied to them?" he asked with a calm he certainly didn't feel.

Kate rubbed her forehead. She had a cup of willow bark tea in front of her and was sipping it with a disgusted expression on her face. "I don't lie, you know that."

The Father crossed his arms. "Telling them they'll go to Hell if they try it sounds like lying to me."

She glared at him. "They _will_ go to Hell if they try. At least Rosette will. Chrno's going there no matter what he does."

Remington shook his head. "So much for redemption, is that it?"

"I'm not having this conversation with you again, Father."

"Fine. Then I'm going to march right over to Rosette and tell her what we know. Let _her_ make the choice about whether to try it."

Kate froze. "Don't you dare, Father."

"It's her body, Kate."

"And it's God's soul."

"I really don't think God will mind."

"That's blasphemy!"

Muttering under his breath, Remington stepped forward, grabbed her cup, and took a swallow of the hot liquid. It tasted as vile as it looked.

"What did you do that for?" she asked suspiciously.

"Just cutting the headache off before it starts."

She shook her head and pushed her glasses back up her nose. "The point is somewhat moot. Rosette can no longer travel and Chrno will be shot if he ever steps foot on these grounds again."

"After all they did for us," Remington sighed. "Not very gracious. I don't want them to die."

"Neither do I, Father. Do you think me a monster?"

"No, just inflexible sometimes." He leaned back in his chair. "Tell them, Kate. For God's sake, tell them, or let me do it." She shook her head again, stubborn, but she wouldn't look at him. "To allow a death by inaction is the same thing as murder."

She glared. "To damn a soul to eternal fire is worse than murder."

"But I can't see that," he protested. "All Chrno has to do-"

"Is defy every oath Rosette has ever taken with the Order. She gave herself over to God."

"But she gave herself to Chrno first," he pointed out. "Whether you like it, whether you believe it, she did. If she's damned, she's damned already and nothing you do will save her soul. You're only condemning her to Hell sooner. Can you do that?"

Kate trembled. "But… She'd be lost."

"She's lost already. At least give her the chance to live."

He saw her squeeze her eyes shut, hands clenched in prayer on her desk. Remington stood, making no attempt to hide his movements. Kate didn't move. Quickly, the priest left the office, headed towards the women's barracks. He was running before he reached the end of the hall.

A minute later, Kate's eyes snapped open. "No," she breathed. Her faith was strong. It was true. If there was even the slightest chance of Rosette's soul being saved, she had to take it. "Remington!" she shouted. "Stop! Don't tell her!"

---000---

Remington ran hard for the barracks, praying as loudly as he could that he was right, praying that he got there before Kate came to her senses and caught up. She outranked him. He would have told Chrno and Rosette years ago if not for her orders, and she could order him again now. Chrno and Rosette both could be on their knees before him, begging, and he would say nothing if she forbad him, but he had this one chance and he knew it was fleeting.

He banged through the door into the women's quarters, yelling that a man was on the floor, and raced up the stairs two at a time. He saw Kate running across the square through a window he passed and ran down the hall to Rosette's room, going around some very startled nuns without really registering them.

Rosette's door was unlocked, Azmaria sitting beside her where she sat propped up in the bed. Both girls stared at him in shock and Remington had a guilty moment of thinking how terribly young Rosette was to be proposing _this_ to her. Still, if he didn't, she'd never get any older.

He skidded painfully to his knees beside her bed. "For once in your life, listen and don't interrupt." She blinked. "There is one thing that may save your life, something we've sometimes seen demons do to human women to make them into demons themselves. Chrno has to turn you into a demon to save your life. Then you won't be reliant on your life force to survive anymore. You'll have horns of your own to feed you, and feed him." He could hear Kate on the stairs, puffing her way up but not yet screaming the order for him to stop. "You have to let him infuse you with his legions so they can transform you."

"How does he do that?" Rosette asked uncertainly, her eyes suspicious. Azmaria's were huge.

He heard Kate racing down the hall and said it just as she skidded to a halt in the doorway.

"Sex," he said.

---000---

For a long, comical moment, all three women stared at him. Azmaria's face was white, Rosette's an interesting shade of red, and Kate's purple. Remington would have laughed if he wasn't sure they'd hit him.

Kate's head dropped. "I'm going to kill you, Remington."

Rosette's face was completely coloured. "What?" she squeaked. "I have to do what?"

"Forget what he said, Rosette," Kate urged. "It's not worth the risk."

Her nose wrinkled. "You want me to have _sex?_ With _Chrno??_"

Remington shrugged, still absurdly amused. "It's the only way. A blood transfusion would kill you. Anything you drank would be digested. Think of it as a sexually transmitted cure."

"What?" she managed again, even redder.

"It's better than Chlamydia," he couldn't resist adding.

Kate smacked him on the head. "That's enough! Rosette isn't going to do it! Even if it _did_ work, all the women it was done to in the past became thralls to their demon rapists. _That's_ why we didn't tell you! You'd lose your mind and your soul to Chrno forever."

Azmaria turned to Rosette, her hands clasped together and her eyes shining. "You get to make love to Chrno! That's so romantic!"

"Don't give her ideas!" Kate screamed.

Rosette rubbed her forehead, her blush fading. "I think… I need some time alone."

Remington stood. "I understand, Rosette. I'm sorry to have to tell you."

"No you're not," Kate groused. "Forget about it, Rosette. It'll never happen. Your soul is too important." The girl wouldn't look at them.

The two adults backed out, Azmaria with them. "I wasn't entirely sure how she'd react," Remington admitted, regarding her closed door.

Kate shot him a look. "She's acting far more reasonable about it than I would have expected, thank God." She smacked his chest. "My office, now. You'll be lucky if I only make you scrub toilets for the next month. Thank _God_ Chrno is gone." She led him down the hall, berating him all the way.

Azmaria looked the way they'd gone, then at Rosette's door. She'd said she wanted to be alone. She bit her lip. Chrno needed to know this, if she could only figure out where he'd gone.

Quickly, before anyone could think about how _she'd_ react, the young apostle hurried out of the barracks, headed for the front gate.

---000---

Rosette sat back in her bed, completely stunned. She had to have sex with Chrno to live? That word sounded rather icky. She had to make love with him? That sounded better. She tried to imagine her friend naked and got an image of him in his twelve-year old form. That was wrong on so many levels it made her ill. Then she imagined him in his demon form the way he'd been when she healed him from Aion's attack. She shuddered delicately and the room started to feel distinctly warm.

The girl shook herself. She couldn't focus on that. Pay attention to the rest of it, girl, she told herself. The whole point of it all was to give her Chrno's legions, to make her into a demon. Her heart fluttered. Could she be a demon? What would that mean? Would she end up as Chrno's thrall the way Kate had warned? Somehow, she doubted that. Chrno himself would never allow that to happen. He'd probably flip it the other way around and give her control instead. _He'd make love to her._

Rosette shuddered again and looked out the window. She'd live. As a demon, she'd live. She'd be with Chrno forever. She'd have the power to find her brother. She might lose her soul. Only she'd be losing it to him, wouldn't she? And he already had it.

Rosette sighed. This was one thing she'd never really let herself consider and now she couldn't get it out of her head. "Chrno, where are you?"

---000---

Partway across the city, Chrno hurried down the sidewalk, looking behind himself periodically to make sure no one was following him. He'd have to go back to the Order soon, he had to get back to Rosette, but first he had to figure out how he'd get onto the grounds without being detected. It wouldn't be much of an infiltration with Kate knowing where he was all the time and her being able to knock him out with a sentence.

She could do a whole lot else to him as well, he remembered bitterly. He just hadn't ever thought he'd be crazy enough to give her a reason.

"Well, you're looking better."

Chrno spun around, heart pounding. In front of him stood Satella Havenheit, her lips curled in an amused smile. Her butler stood behind her, holding her packages.

"You look like you've seen a ghost," she teased. "Are you running from one?"

"Um, no, from the Order's militia," he admitted.

Her eyebrows rose. "Whatever did you do to them?"

He looked down sheepishly. "Threatened Sister Kate with a gun."

"Excellent!" She turned to her butler and clapped her hands together. "Steiner, bring the car around! This sounds like a wonderful excuse to go to lunch."

"Very good, madam."

Fifteen minutes later, Chrno found himself sitting at a table in a very expensive restaurant, feeling horribly out of place. Everyone was staring at him, though he didn't know if that was for his grubby clothes or his slitted eyes and pointed ears. Nervously, he played with his half unravelled braid, afraid to touch the plethora of utensils in front of him. He didn't really need to eat, though he did to keep Rosette company and because he liked the taste. He wasn't sure what the things put before him were though.

"Have you never had escargot before?" Satella asked him curiously.

"No," he said doubtfully, eyeing the little shelled things. "What are they?"

"Snails," she said gleefully.

Well, that didn't sound any grosser than dead cow muscle. Chrno stuck one in his mouth to keep her happy and started chewing. "Crunchy," he admitted.

Satella waved a little torture device in front of his face. "You're supposed to take it out of the shell first."

He blinked. "Oh." Taking it, he shot the first snail across the room and then managed to get the hang of it.

Satella watched him. "Usually people get all squeamish when I break out the snails," she admitted. "I suppose you're used to doing all these strange human things."

Chrno shrugged. He had to be, living with Rosette. His gut twisted, aching for her. To leave her the way he had… he couldn't believe anyone at the Order would hurt her, but she was still dying, her life draining away because of him.

And Sister Kate knew how to stop it, only he couldn't get close to her. Not without her knocking him out and throwing him in that cell that stopped time. The same cell he'd asked her to lock him in, before he found out there was still hope. He closed his eyes, grieving, until a thought occurred to him. Azmaria also said _Father Remington_ knew how to save them.

"Satella, can you help me?" he asked his hostess. "I need to find Father Remington, but I can't go back to the Order."

She gave him a sultry look. "And what do I get if I do?"

Chrno flinched. He had a pretty good idea what she wanted, which was rather freaky in the body he was currently wearing and impossible besides. "Anything but that," he said dryly and she pouted.

"You're no fun."

"I'm way too old for you, Satella," he reminded her.

"True," she admitted with a sigh. "I saw you at the hotel. Nice ass though."

The demon rolled his eyes. "Please. Rosette doesn't have much time."

She frowned. "She'll really die?" She'd always had trouble believing that. Sure, that's what usually happened to anyone who consorted with demons, but Chrno was different. He nodded dumbly.

"Then what happens to you?" she asked.

Then he turns himself in to Sister Kate and hopes she blows his head off or locks him in that cell for the rest of eternity. "Please. Father Remington might know a way to save her."

"Oh, well, why didn't you say something? Can't have my favourite pain in the butt die on me." She grabbed her purse and snapped her fingers for the cheque.

---000---

Twenty minutes later, Chrno sat in the car with Steiner, his head down, while Satella stood at the Order's front gate, arguing with someone.

"They don't appear willing to let her in," Steiner commented.

Chrno banged his fist against the floorboards. He hadn't been expecting that. Sister Kate must suspect Satella of helping him. Granted, it was kind of obvious he'd go to her, even though running into her had been an accident.

Satella came back to the car, irritated. "They say they're closed," she grated. "No one is permitted entry. Sister Kate's orders."

Chrno peered out the window at the Order. "I have to find Father Remington. I have to get to Rosette. Did you ask if he could come to the gate?"

"They said he was on latrine duty." She shrugged at his look. "I don't know what that means. That's what they said though."

Chrno sagged. Rosette could die while he waited out there. His need to get to her was an agony inside him, but there was no way he could get in there without being detected. Not unless Sister Kate was seriously distracted. He looked up at Satella again hopefully. "Can you do me another favour?"

---000---

The call came in at dusk, the militia being called out in force to deal with a major demon outbreak at the wharf. The smoke could even be seen from the Order, something huge and glowing waving its arms and roaring madly.

Sister Kate didn't hesitate. Leaving Remington neck deep in latrines and the Elder in charge, she gathered together the main militia force and set out. It felt strange to not be taking Rosette along, but the girl was in no shape for combat.

Some time after they departed, Chrno scaled the wall and dropped into the grass on the inside, feeling his power levels drop the moment he landed. Hopefully Satella could keep them hopping for a while. It wouldn't take Kate more than a single good look to realise that her 'demon' was really a jewel knight in disguise.

Hopefully, no one would be watching for him so closely here. Chrno honestly didn't know _how_ Sister Kate knew demons were on the grounds. He just knew she did. So he didn't waste any time and ran for the barracks. He didn't know where Father Remington was, but maybe Rosette did and he needed to see her anyway.

He reached the women's' barracks and crept in the back door, listening to the sounds of the junior nuns chatting and giggling. They were really a rather useless bunch, he sometimes thought, but Rosette liked them and they'd never been unkind to him. They just giggled and stared a lot.

Chrno went up the back stairs, but there were girls in the hallway. Skirting around to one of the windows, he opened it and climbed out onto the ledge, cautiously edging his way around to Rosette's window. It was open, like usual, and he climbed in, looking up with relief at Rosette's face.

She stared back at him, her face rapidly going a very alarming pink colour.

Chrno scrambled the rest of the way in, landing in an uncoordinated heap at the foot of her bed. She yanked her knees up. "Are you okay?" he hissed. "I got back here as fast as I could."

"I-" Her blush deepened. He stared, completely baffled.

"What's wrong?"

"Um." She looked away. "Father Remington told me how you can save my life."

His face lit up. "Really?? He did? How?" he demanded, his voice actually breaking on the last word.

She took a deep breath and forced herself to look at him. He couldn't figure out why it was so difficult for her until she spoke.

"He said that you have to make love to me." His jaw dropped. "It'll give me your legions and make me into a demon. Then I won't need a life force anymore."

The whole bottom dropped out of Chrno's gut. "W-what?" he managed. He had to…? But he couldn't, he'd…. She'd die. She'd die if he didn't. Chrno shuddered, his entire frame shaking, but he crawled forward, Rosette's eyes widening as he got closer. Crouching right next to her, he steeled himself and leaned forward to kiss her.

He didn't know what he was expecting. Actually, he knew exactly what he was expecting, but her lips were soft and sweet. Chrno kissed her and reached up a trembling hand to lay against her breast. Her heart was beating like a frightened bird, but she didn't stop him. It was the most awkward moment he'd ever been in.

A minute later, he realised that one of the things he _did_ expect to happen _wasn't_. He blinked, eyes opening to stare into hers. "What?" she asked, her face still red.

"Um." Chrno was pretty sure this was humiliating for a human man. He knew it was humiliating for him. "Something's not working."

"What?" she asked. He looked down at himself and she flushed red.

A cackling laugh came from the doorway and they both turned, flaming red, to see the Elder standing there, flanked by armed militia. "Too bad, I would have liked the show, but the Order isn't big on sex. Nobody can get a hard-on here. It's one of the biggest regrets of my life."

Chrno howled and grabbed the tray off Rosette's nightstand, throwing it at them. The old man ducked, already yelling. "By the command of the Holy Order of Magde…" Rosette beaned him in the forehead with a boot and he reeled back. The guards pushed forward.

Chrno grabbed Rosette around the waist. He couldn't leave her here again, especially not now that he knew how to save her. The thought of it terrified him, but he'd pay the price willingly. He just had to get her away first.

"What are you doing?" she shrieked, right before he threw them both out the window.

Luckily, her room was only on the second floor, but Chrno still nearly broke both his legs when he landed with her in her arms. Rosette wasn't exactly a light little flower. Not with all the muscle she'd put on fighting demons.

Chrno ran for the walls, again, this time carrying Rosette. "Let me down!" she yelled as he staggered under her weight and he set her down gratefully. She only ran a few metres before her legs gave out under her though and with a curse he pulled her up again.

"Sorry," she gasped. "Sorry."

There were already militia pouring out of the barracks, yelling and brandishing weapons. Chrno ran as hard as he could, but there was no way he could outrun them like this. He just wasn't strong enough. He might make it without Rosette, but that wasn't happening. He had to change the odds.

"Forgive me," he gasped and let himself change. Not to demon form, he would kill her before he ever saved her that way and he'd need her to release the seal anyway. Instead he changed to the adult human he'd always been with Magdalene, before he realised its greater drain would kill her faster than him as a child. Suddenly a head taller than Rosette and much stronger, he put on speed and outdistanced the militia, sprinting for the front gate.

It was opening. Chrno had a moment to wonder why, and then Sister Kate's car was pulling through it, summoned back to deal with him. Chrno jumped onto the hood, staring through the glass at her for an instant, then leaped up onto the roof and off the back, sprinting down the street towards the nearest alley. Pedestrians on the sidewalk gaped in shock at the man running away from a convent with a half naked girl in his arms, but he bowled over the few who tried to stop him.

Rosette started sniggering into his neck. "Did you see Sister Kate's face? I thought her head was going to explode." She pulled back and looked at him, her face tense. "Stay like this?" she whispered. "During?"

He knew what she meant. "Yes," he whispered back and skidded around a corner. He had a long way to go before they would be safe. Satella would meet him, if she were still free. He had to hope she had somewhere to take them both that Kate wouldn't be able to find them. Holding Rosette close, he ran on.

---000---

Kate got out of the car and slammed the door so hard that it rocked on its wheels. The Elder walked towards her, rubbing a bruise on his head. "I thought you had things under control," she grated.

The old man shrugged, unimpressed. "Consider yourself lucky. I caught his presence about two minutes after he crossed the wall. If the Order hadn't had those annoying little protections on it, Rosette would have been a demon before I got to her room. I would have had some nice porn though," he added thoughtfully.

Kate blanched. A second later she was livid. "Rouse the militia!" she snapped. "I was everyone to find Chrno the Sinner and Sister Rosette Christopher. I want him dead and her back here _before_ he has a chance to rape her!" She spun. "Get me every address belonging to Satella Harvenheit. I know she's helping him. They'll go back to her. Now MOVE!" They scattered in every direction and Kate breathed slowly and deeply, trying to calm herself down. Now was not the time to lose control. Not until she had that demon in chains and Rosette was safe.

---000---

Satella rubbed her eyes wearily as her car pulled up in front of her building. The front bedroom was still under reconstruction after Aion threw Chrno through the window – okay, after her jewel knight accidentally punched Chrno through it – but it was home. Steiner opened the door and she stepped out, looking forward to a long bath. She was done with good deeds for the day.

"Psst, Satella."

She turned. Standing next to the lamppost was Rosette, dressed in a man's coat that reached to her bare knees, and a man who she only recognized as Chrno because of the lavender coloured hair and the ears. They both looked sheepish and Rosette was barefoot.

"Now what?" she groused, already seeing visions of her bath going away.

To her surprise, they both turned red.

---000---

As warehouses went, it was rather ordinary. As a place to lose her virginity, save her life, and maybe lose her soul, it was decidedly lacking.

"Is this the best you can do?" Rosette complained.

"There's an alley out back if you're feeling particular," Satella pointed out.

"I'm pretty sure your apartment has more than one bedroom in it!" she shouted.

Satella sniffed. "Like I want you two ruining my sheets. Besides, you both said you didn't know for sure what would happen. I'd rather not have any collateral damage destroy my drapes. Or the building."

Rosette blushed. She had a point. "Just… go away."

Satella turned her back. "I'll be at the coffee shop down the block, just in case something blows up."

Rosette watched her walk away and exhaled noisily. She didn't know what to think, but it was true. They didn't know what would happen to either of them. Chrno crouched behind her, drawing the circle that would hold in their energies, just in case. At the least, it would make it harder for Sister Kate to find them. At worst, it might keep them from killing everyone around them if this went wrong. She closed her eyes. She hoped it didn't go wrong.

She heard Chrno finish drawing behind her and stand. "Rosette," he called, his voice very soft.

Rosette forced herself to turn around. It was only Chrno. It was only sex. What did she know about sex? She lived in a nunnery, for God's sake. It was her life though.

Chrno stood inside the circle, next to a pile of blankets and a mattress they'd found and dragged there. The circle was complete except for right where he was, to let her in. He was still in his adult form, his eyes haunted.

"Are you okay?" Rosette found herself asking. He looked more troubled than her.

He shook his head, the haunted look not leaving. "I love you, Rosette. I'll do anything for you." He held out his hand.

Shivering, Rosette walked over to take it and he drew her into the circle before kneeling to complete its closure. That made it easier, but she was still terrified. She wanted to beg for more time to get used to the idea, but there was an emptiness in her chest that told her she didn't have any more time. It she'd had any doubts, her pocket watch would have dissuaded her. The hands were almost at midnight and she was only on her feet due to determination.

"Have you ever done this before?" she asked him as he rose and he shook his head mutely. Great, they were both incompetent.

Blushing still, she looked at the mass of blankets and gingerly knelt down, testing the softness. There really wasn't much, but she supposed it didn't matter. She looked up at Chrno and felt her blush burn hotter as he stripped off his shirt and started on his pants, his eyes closed.

"Here we go," she squeaked, took a deep breath, and yanked off her shift.

---000---

Chrno took his clothes off, looked at Rosette, and was nearly undone. She had her arms crossed over her bare chest, hiding everything, and her face was a vivid red, but she was so beautiful. He could die for her.

He took off his pants and underwear, noting distantly that his problem from the barracks was gone, and made himself kneel down beside her. It was harder than he imagined. He loved her but…

The only demons in Pandemonium who had sex were the ones who mated with Pandemonium herself to produce the next generation. It wasn't a mark of honour though, it was a death sentence. She'd use their body and their mind up, ravaging both until they were destroyed, and thanks to the telepathy of their horns, everyone would feel their death screams. Aion had been slated to be next for that death before he rebelled and took Chrno and the others with him. He would have died the way Chrno expected to now, his mind and body ripped apart.

But she would live, he whispered to himself. Rosette would live.

He kissed her, her lips so soft again, and pushed her back against the blankets with his body, covering her as he hoped he could do what he needed before her mind tore his apart. Rosette whimpered but opened her arms, putting them around his neck. A minute later, she opened her legs.

---000---

"Anything?" Kate growled. She was still so angry she wanted to just rip someone's head off, but she forced herself not to take it out on her people. None of this was their fault. It was hers, for being as lenient as she had been. She couldn't even blame Remington, though she still wanted to give him a good smack.

"Yes and no," the Elder grunted, staring down at his machine as the antennas whipped back and forth. "They seem to be south of us, but the signal's muted somehow. They're trying to hide it." He checked the dials. "They're putting out a lot of energy though. They're definitely south." He looked at her, his eyes hidden behind his goggles. "I think we might be too late."

"Not yet we're not. MOVE OUT!" Kate headed back to her car. She wouldn't believe that until she saw it with her own eyes.

---000---

"Oh God!" Rosette gasped. "Chrno!"

She hadn't expected to feel like this. She hadn't expected _anything_ to feel like this. She'd thought she'd be embarrassed and sore, but Chrno was thrusting against her, rubbing against nerves she hadn't even known she had and he was building a fire in her belly. Was this what the nunnery was always saying was so bad? Forget them; she didn't want this to stop.

She clawed her nails down his back, crying out again, and felt him shudder, never slowing his movements and pushing her repeatedly into the mattress until she felt the springs biting into her back, but she didn't care. She wanted more.

She could feel his mind as well, rubbing against hers in a way she was pretty sure she wouldn't have felt from a human lover. She could feel herself opening up in her head, pathways down into her soul widening, but Chrno never followed them. Craving that unexpected closeness, she reached for his mind, diving as deeply into it as he drove into her. Chrno gasped, his entire body trembling, and she pushed further, crying out at the raw bliss of his soul open to hers.

Chrno shuddered again and Rosette opened her eyes, wanting to see his pleasure. That wasn't what she saw though. His eyes were closed in agony, even as he continued to rock within her.

"Chrno?" she gasped, watching a tear squeeze out.

She was hurting him, she realized. Somehow, her presence in his mind was killing him, and it felt good. Frantic, Rosette pulled back out, letting go her grip on his mind even as she fastened her lips on his, her legs wrapping around his waist to draw him deeper physically.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

Chrno's eyes opened as he heard Rosette's whispered apologies and felt her withdraw from his mind before she could do any permanent damage. For a moment he was confused, having expected what Pandemonium would have done, and wrapped an arm around her, stopping while deep inside.

"What did you do?" he whispered, staring down at her.

"I don't know," she admitted. Her face was sweaty and glorious. "I think I was hurting you. I stopped. Does it feel better now?"

She stopped? _Pandemonium_ could have stopped? He remembered all those demons he felt die in agony and stared at her with amazement. "Yes."

"Good." She pouted and tightened her muscles around him. "More?" Chrno gasped at the sensation and flattened himself against her again, thrusting harder until she started to cry out her delight again. She was dancing around the edges of his mind without touching, just as he did to her, and now he really was feeling pleasure, shuddering and starting to gasp as the flood inside him threatened to peak.

Doors slammed and he heard a woman's voice cry out in horror. "Stop! For the love of God, stop!"

Nothing could have stopped him. Chrno screamed, head thrown back and muscles standing out as he came, filling the shrieking woman under him with everything he had. Then he collapsed, drained and too dazed to recognize the militia who moved to surround them both.

---000---

Rosette did recognize the people surrounding them, even as her muscles pulsed with the after effects of her own orgasm.

"Oh, applesauce," she muttered, thinking about shoving Chrno off of her, but they could hardly doubt what they'd been seeing and at the moment, his body over hers was the only thing hiding her nakedness. Worst of all, the Elder was standing there, leering at them both.

Maybe not the worst. Sister Kate looked like she wanted to start gnawing on the woodwork.

"Um, hi," Rosette managed, giving a little wave.

"Don't hi me, young lady! Do you realise what you've done?!"

Saved her own life? Rosette glared at the nun. "Don't you understand privacy?" she snapped.

"Don't you start." Kate pulled a piece of chalk out of her pocket, knelt down, and finished a symbol, turning the circle they lay within from one they could open themselves to one they couldn't. Rosette felt the air pressure change and Chrno's head shot up, suddenly aware of the danger. He looked over his shoulder at Kate and pulled free from Rosette, leaving her scrambling for a blanket to cover herself while he stood and walked to the edge of the circle. Reaching out, he touched the wall of energy, creating a flash of sparks, and looked at the nun evenly.

"I was not going to let Rosette die," he told her.

"You bastard," she spat. "Rapist of children."

"Hey!" Rosette yelled. "I'm sixteen here!"

"Yes, you are," the Elder leered, standing right at the edge of the circle. Chrno looked at him and slammed a fist against the circle right in front of his face. It sparked and the old man jumped back. Chrno looked back at Kate.

"You can't do anything for her now."

Her eyes narrowed. "Yes, I can. She won't be the first thrall God's brought back to humanity."

Chrno hissed. What was she going to do? Dropping into a crouch, he snarled at the woman. "You won't touch her!"

"You won't stop me." Kate raised a hand. "By the command of the Holy Order of Magdalena, sleep."

Dizziness swept through Chrno and he dropped to his knees. Not again.

"Stop!" Rosette cried, hurrying to his side with the blanket wrapped around her. "Leave him alone!"

"Not while he has you under his control." Her eyes were cold. "Sleep and die, demon. I command it!"

Horrified, Rosette watched her lover pitch over, gasping for breath. She could feel his mind going, could feel him dying, his body forcing itself to stop living under the power of Sister Kate's command. His gaze met hers, terrified of leaving her.

"No!" she screamed, outraged and horrified. Deep inside her, Chrno's essence soaked through her womb, deep into her bloodstream, and her scream suddenly turned to one of pain as her body bucked, jerking backwards. Agony speared through her skull, centered above her ears.

"Rosette," Chrno coughed, reaching for the convulsing girl as Kate exclaimed in horror, but darkness was clawing at him, pulling him down. He hadn't known Kate had a death command. He fought it anyway. Rosette's horns were coming in.

She shrieked, kicking the blankets free and writhing in agony. The burn of pleasure from her belly had swept up through her body and now it was an excruciating pain in her skull. She couldn't hear either Kate crying for her to hold on or Chrno yelling to let go. She just knew the pain was worse than anything she could have imagined and tears poured down her cheeks.

Something pushed through her skin. Rosette felt them small and pointed under her fingertips, and then they made her back arch as she exploded into light. Chrno lay on the ground and looked at her, smiling as he felt the demon energy consume and become part of her. She had horns now, tiny little cute horns that would draw energy from the astral line without any need of a human life force. "Rosette," he whispered and let his head fall against his arm, drifting away.

Rosette heard him. Rolling over and wanting to be sick, she crawled over to the outstretched demon, dragged him onto his back, and punched him as hard as she could. "WAKE UP!"

Chrno jerked awake, gasping.

"Idiot," Rosette muttered. "If I'm not allowed to die, then neither are you."

Trembling, Chrno reached up to her where she crouched over him, hands pushing through her golden hair to touch the two little horns that poked out from her temples. He could feel the energy in them, far more than what was no longer coming to him from her watch. His arms fell back limply.

With a cry, Rosette pulled him into her arms. "Chrno! What's wrong?"

He opened his eyes and smiled at her. "Your life force is gone. You're a demon now. I have nothing to live off anymore." It was worth it though, just to see her safe.

Rosette bit her lip as his eyes closed again, not caring about her nudity any longer, or his, or that everyone was watching. She lifted her head and looked at Kate, standing on the other side of the circle with her arms folded in her habit.

"Come back, Rosette," the nun said. "We can banish the demon in you and bring you back to God."

"But I'll die," Rosette protested. "He'll die."

"Yet your soul will live forever."

Rosette stared at her for a long minute. "I don't want to live forever," she decided and bent down, pulling Chrno's head up until she could kiss him. She breathed astral into him, whispering for him to come back.

"I can't help you anymore, child," Kate mourned. "May God forgive you."

Chrno's eyes opened, staring at her, and he changed, flickering in an instant from man to demon. His wings spread as he stood, pulling Rosette up with him.

"Are you going to kill us now?" he asked Kate.

"To send Rosette back to God, yes. You can go to Hell." Kate gestured at the militia. "Ready your weapons."

Rosette's grip tightened on Chrno's arms, his wing coming around to cover her, for all the good it would do. The militia raised their weapons and neither of them could fight or run. They were trapped in the circle they'd meant to protect them.

"Make it quick and painless," Kate ordered sorrowfully, "but make it final. That's the only mercy I can give you both."

Rosette pressed her face against Chrno's side and when the crash came, she thought it was gunfire. Nothing hit her though and she looked up to see Satella's jewel knight break through the front doors, swinging its sword for the circle. It went through, missing them both, and dragged back across the line, breaking it.

"Run, you morons!" Satella shouted.

Chrno grabbed Rosette and leaped. Immediately they were airborne, no longer trapped and crashing through the roof of the warehouse an instant later. Rosette tried to scream, but she couldn't get enough air as Chrno glowed golden, arcing over the city as fast as he could go. Looking back, she saw that Satella was the only one able to follow them, riding one of her jewel beasts up above the level of the city. She smiled, glad the woman had escaped.

"Where do we go now?" she asked Chrno.

"Don't know," he answered, gliding around a skyscraper with a restaurant and a lot of surprised customers in it. Rosette blushed again.

"How about somewhere with clothes?" she suggested and smacked him when he grinned. "Pervert."

"Of course," he murmured and kept flying, grateful just to be with her.

---000---

Far below, Azmaria walked wearily along the sidewalk, no longer knowing where she was, but knowing now this had been a bad idea. She didn't know where Chrno was at all and it was dark out. She wanted to go home.

Someone shouted, pointing, and the girl looked up to see a demonic form flying overhead, carrying someone. A moment later, Satella's flying beast followed them, all of them glowing in the dark. They rose over a line of buildings and vanished.

"Oh my God!" she gasped.

"Somehow I doubt God had anything to do with it." Startled, Azmaria looked beside her to see a tall, white haired man in a white suit standing there.

"Aion!" she gasped.

"I must ask him how he managed that," Aion continued. "Surviving sex. What a concept." He looked down at her. "Later, of course," he added with a smile and reached for her.

**The End**

_(Well, hopefully everyone enjoyed that. I honestly tried to think of another way to save Rosette, since the sexual solution seemed a little obvious, at least to me, but I couldn't come up with anything. Does give me some directions to play with though. And it was interesting trying to write Sister Kate as an opponent who wasn't really an enemy, though she definitely presents a continuing danger to the couple._

_My goal with this was to get rid of that whole absoluteness of the Contract and the fact that Rosette was going to die. I hate absoluteness. I also hate how much it limits a writer. So this gets out of that and gives me a clean slate, hopefully with everyone still in character. That was one of my main goals as well. I think I pulled it off, based on what I know about all of them, but I'm not so sure about the Elder. The perviness, yes, but I'm not confident about the rest of him. At least he only had a small part._

_If you liked the story, send me a review. I won't die if I don't get any, but I do like them – who doesn't? – and they do help motivate me when I'm not on a mad writing glut like I was this weekend. Usually I'm not quite so inspired. I'll probably never stop writing to some degree, but there's not much point in going through the posting process if no one is interested.)_


	4. Horns

**HORNS**

By Hydraa

_This is part of a series. Read in order, they go (so far):_

_To Find the Watch_

_Demons_

_Horns_

_Reviews are always appreciated. Enjoy the story._

---000---

**Chapter 1**

Rosette peered at herself in the battered mirror, leaning over the chipped sink so she could see her wrinkled up nose clearly. Her blue eyes were clear and annoyed above it, framed by her golden hair. She had the sides tied in her usual pigtails and reached up with both hands, not touching the pigtails themselves but pressing cautiously down on the two little horns that jutted out from her temples, just above her ears. They were about an inch long and faintly coloured mother of pearl. They were also just long enough to stick out through her hair if she wore it the way she liked. Her expression twisted further. Were her ears getting pointed?

"Chrno!" she shouted. "I'm not going to get weird looking ears too, am I?"

She heard movement in the other room, her partner and more recent lover shifting on the bed. "For all I know, you're going to end up with four tails and a barbed spine," he told her. He sounded tired.

Rosette didn't really care. "What?" she shrilled. "Are you joking??" There was a noncommittal grunt. "Chrno! You better be joking!"

She stormed into the other room, which happened to be the only other room in the tiny little boarding house they'd found. It had peeling wallpaper over a carpet so old she didn't want to touch it with bare feet, a single broken chair, and a bed that had long outlived its normal usefulness.

A twelve year old boy lay on it, his head pillowed on a rolled up coat. _His_ ears were blindingly obvious, pointed and sticking out through either side of his lavender coloured hair. Slitted red eyes looked up at her sleepily, even though it was the middle of the day.

Rosette blinked at him, her hands on her hips. "What are you doing in that form?"

He shrugged. "I'm tired."

Rosette's temper cooled. He shouldn't have been tired yet, she didn't think. She didn't really know for sure how this all worked though. Chrno had turned her into a demon to save her life, and the thought of how he managed _that_ still made her blush, but he still needed an outside source of energy himself. Since her human life force was expended now, he'd die without receiving astral from her.

"But I gave you some this morning," she protested.

He shrugged again. "I guess not enough. Sorry," he mumbled.

Her eyes narrowed. "Well, change form first. You freak me out like that."

Faintly, the demon smiled and shifted, his body elongating to become that of a twenty year old man. Some day, Rosette was going to ask how he managed to get his clothes to change as well when he did that, but for now she walked over to the bed, climbing onto it and sliding her body up next to his. He wrapped his arms around her and lifted his face up to hers.

Rosette kissed him. There was a lot of actual kiss in there, but at the same time she breathed astral into him, exhaling life itself into his mouth.

It felt weird, draining but sensual and incredibly intimate. Rosette felt his hands tangle into her hair while her own pushed into his. It was shorter this way than when he looked like a boy, but still reached to his waist. It had to be long enough as there was no way she was going to do this when he looked like a twelve-year-old. She wasn't Satella.

Together, they lay there, her breathing into him, he accepting it. Rosette let him take what he needed, curbing her impatience this time, and Chrno took far more than he had that morning, when she'd been more interested in bagels, despite his assertion she didn't need to eat. She felt the astral pour out of her until her horns started to burn, struggling to replenish her levels, and still he drew more. Finally, she was forced to slide a hand over his mouth to break the connection. Chrno blinked at her over it, his expression comical.

"No more," she whispered and moved the hand away so she could kiss him again more gently.

"Sorry," he replied. He looked much better though, his eyes clear and rounder, the slit easing back into an ellipse. He kept his arms around her, his eyebrow lifting suggestively. "How are your legions doing?"

Rosette made a face. Breathing in her astral made him randy and she wasn't always in the mood, even if he did have to replenish her legions sometimes. She wasn't a true demon, even with the horns. They had a symbiotic relationship. He would die without her astral, she would die without his legions. Good thing they got along.

She bonked him on the head and sat up, squirming out of his grasp. "Behave yourself or I'll beat you." She sat on the edge of the bed and frowned. "How come you need so much of my astral?" Her horns were itching, a sure sign she was drained, even if she didn't really feel all that tired yet.

He shrugged and sat up. "Your horns are kind of small. Mine were a foot long."

Her eyes narrowed. "What does that mean? That I'm inferior?"

He blanched. "Ah, no! Of course not! You're just…"

"Less powerful?" she finished, getting pissed.

Sensing there was no way he was going to win this one, Chrno bounced up and jumped for the door. "I'll go get the paper," he told her and ran out.

Rosette sighed, stood up, and went back into the bathroom to see if her ears had grown any bigger yet.

---000---

Chrno hurried along the trash filled corridor and made his way down the tattered stairs to the back door of the boarding house. It let out onto an alley and he looked both ways quickly before he headed for the street.

It wasn't Rosette's fault, but she _was_ less powerful. The length and number of a demon's horns dictated their power levels. He had been one of the most powerful demons in all of Pandemonium. With those adorable little nubs of hers, even if she'd been accepted as a non-demon, Rosette would have barely been tolerated as a servant.

Not that he could see her taking orders from anyone.

Still, Rosette could gather enough astral to keep herself alive and to feed him as well. He couldn't stay in full demon form for terribly long, though longer than the watch had allowed, and he couldn't use his full powers without running out of power in a hurry, but he could stay as a man most of the time. That was preferable to him. The child form had been good for him, had been a way for him to heal and to learn to like himself again, but it was still a child. He wanted to be a man with Rosette now and she wasn't terribly interested in children. The fewer reminders she got of that the better. If he had his way, he'd never take his hands off her, but he was addicted to her. She was his Contractor, or was his Contractor, but she certainly was his liege and always would be.

Rosette was pissed because her horn length gave her lower status among demons. He smirked, wondering if he dared tell her that, with Chrno the Sinner and killer of a thousand demons beholden to her, she probably had a higher status than any demon but Pandemonium.

Chrno strode down the sidewalk, walking towards the nearby market. It wasn't much of one; they were in a poor neighbourhood of New York, but it was better than nothing and the best they could afford. The money Satella gave them wouldn't last forever and they didn't know yet where to go. Without the Order's contacts, their search for Joshua was severely hampered, but it was hardly like they could go back. He'd certainly be killed outright, and thanks to Oaths he'd been forced to take, he couldn't even fight back against them, not without Rosette, and they'd kill her as well in the attempt to save her soul.

Chrno sighed and crossed the street towards the market. He wanted to get back to Rosette, wanted to do all sorts of things with her that the nuns of the Order would be wholly against, but she needed to calm down first. His horns were gone, but he still had fragments of them left in his skull, protected under ceramic covers, and he could feel her with them. Just barely and only because she was so much a part of him, but he could tell she was still angry.

He'd know when it was safe to go back.

---000---

_"There he is. Did he see us?"_

_"Negative."_

_"Do we take him?"_

_"The other team will. Our orders are to go after the Sister. She's our primary target."_

_"Hm. Think she's still salvageable?"_

_"Sister Kate prays so."_

_"Then let's go get her."_

---000---

Her ears were definitely pointed. Maybe. Were they? Rosette turned her head to one side, trying to see them more clearly and puffed out a breath, giving up. It's not like she _wanted_ them to get pointed.

Bored, she wandered back into the other room, wondering when Chrno was going to get back. She was starting to feel tired from his drain and threw herself down on the bed. A minute later, she was snoring.

---000---

Chrno stood at a newspaper stand, reading the front page of a newspaper. There was a depression looming, it said. He could believe it. He was standing in the middle of one after all.

"You gonna pay for that?" the newsstand owner groused. Silently, Chrno handed him a nickel, trying to ignore how the man stared at his ears. They weren't his fault. No demon alive could handle a perfect transformation. There was always something giving them away, usually the ears for some reason, but most humans didn't know that. The newsstand owner didn't go any further than staring at him suspiciously.

Chrno wandered away before he could start asking questions, still reading the article. Children played around him, rolling hoops while housewives did their shopping. A lot of them looked at him, at his long body and fine features, but Chrno wasn't interested. Not in any ordinary woman. Even if he had been, Rosette didn't have to worry about him straying. She was the only one he'd ever heard of in the entire history of demonkind with a delicate enough touch to make love to him without ripping his soul apart.

Not that he would normally use the word 'delicate' with her, he smirked.

Around him, children shouted and laughed, car engines sounded, and men and women called out to each other. Chrno strolled through the middle of it, turning the paper to the middle. There was something about demonic activity sighted in San Francisco, he saw with interest, something about twisted bodies found on a beach, and he glanced at the opposite page to see a missing child's photo. He stopped, shocked.

_Azmaria??_

Boots appeared below the edge of the paper, right in front of him.

"By the command of the Holy Order of Magdalena," he heard before he could react. "Sleep."

Chrno's knees buckled. Immediately, two men stepped in on either side of him, grabbing his arms and holding him up as they hurried him quickly away from the crowd and down a side alley to where a van waited.

Chrno struggled to breathe, to stay conscious, but his vision was fogging away on him and all his strength was pouring out of his body. He fought it desperately, but only Rosette could break the Order's spell on him. He couldn't even struggle as they lifted him into the van and climbed in with him.

"R-" he tried, desperate to call her name. "R-" He couldn't get the word out and fell onto his back.

A man knelt over him , face framed in the narrowing eyehole of the demon's vision, and he shuddered as he recognized Father Remington. "I'm sorry, Chrno," the priest apologized. "I really am."

Chrno relaxed, unconscious before they put the blindfold and the warded ropes on him.

The van drove away, headed back towards the Order.

---000---

_Author's note: When I first came up with the idea that Chrno had sworn specific Oaths to the Order when he first arrived, I thought it was an interesting little plot device. I did NOT realise how badly Chrno had pooched himself by doing it. I was originally imagining some huge, dramatic battle which the Sinner of course would be able to win, or at least escape from. But nope, the Order isn't made up of idiots. All they have to do is walk up and say the right words while he's distracted. Battle over._

_Sorry, Chrno._

**Chapter 2 **

With a yawn, Rosette rolled over and looked up. "Chrno?" There was no answer and she stretched luxuriously, wondering how long she'd been dozing.

A sound came from outside the room, so soft that she never would have heard it before she became a demon, and she grabbed at her ears to see if they were bigger.

Someone outside took a very quiet step and she heard a gun cocked with painful slowness, as if whoever was doing it didn't want to be overheard.

:Oh, applesauce," she muttered, diving under her bed. They didn't have many weapons, but she'd managed to get a few guns off Satella, even if they were only loaded with normal bullets. Then again, she wouldn't need Sacreds and Gospels to deal with anyone who'd come after her with a gun.

Not trying to be quiet, since it was obvious they knew she was in there, she grabbed a pair of handguns and swung towards the door. "Back off!" she shouted and fired a few rounds through it, just to get their attention. They blew holes in the thin wood and she saw blue uniformed men scrambling for cover. She grinned and headed for the window before they could finish closing their cordon.

She and Chrno were staying on the second floor, the window of their room overlooking a dumpster. It kind of reeked on hot days, but right now, it made the drop a lot shorter as she crashed through the window and landed on the lid, jumping down and running for the street. Startled members of the Magdalena Order, not ready for her to make a break for it yet, shouted and tried to cut her off. She sprinted past them, laughing.

"You won't catch me!" she laughed, bolting into the crowds. They swirled around her, confused by the sudden appearance of the Magdalena militia, but Rosette dodged through them easily, laughing. If Sister Kate thought she was going to be that easy to catch, she was drinking too much tea. Rosette had been the best of the militia, no matter what anyone else said.

Pursued by half a dozen men and women, she sprinted across the road, dodging vehicles, and raced down a side street that led to a dozen different alleys. It was easy to outrun them. "Rosette Christopher," she breathed. "With the power of super speed." Giggling, she rounded a moving van and bolted down another street, never looking back. The militia was nowhere close to catching her.

---000---

Sister Kate walked stiffly out of the administration building at the Order as the van pulled up. She'd just got off the phone with the head of her primary militia team, who had utterly failed in their mission to capture Sister Rosette Christopher. She'd made fools out of them, though Kate couldn't say she was surprised. Rosette had always been good at making idiots out her opponents.

At least the mission hadn't been a complete failure. Kate stepped up to the side of the van, two heavily armed militia guards flanking her. The driver came around from the front and unlocked the doors.

Father Remington jumped down, his face haunted. He didn't like what they were doing, but he had no choice. Much as he disagreed with some of Kate's viewpoints, his oaths to the order required him to obey his superiors. Kate used to let him question that, but no more. Chrno the Sinner was classified as an enemy of the Order, of all humanity. By kidnapping and raping Rosette Christopher, he'd lost any consideration he might have once had, and by helping him do it, Father Ewan Remington had strayed dangerously close to being excommunicated and executed. It had taken all of Kate's influence to save him, but now he had to obey her in this utterly, or both their superiors would be forced to eliminate him.

Kate missed the arguments she used to have with him though.

"Are you all right?" she asked softly.

He looked away. "As well as can be expected," he said. He'd taken the Sinner without harming him though. Kate had been able to allow him that much.

Remington stepped out of the way and the other militia pulled a gurney out of the back of the van. Chrno lay on it, bound heavily by blessed ropes and blindfolded. He was still asleep, thanks to the Oaths he'd sworn when he first came to the Order. Kate could do more than just make him sleep; she could make him die, but Remington would never forgive himself for that.

"Bring him," she said instead. Remington at her side, she followed the gurney into the church, none of them taking any chances with the demon. He'd been too resourceful in the past. Chrno didn't move though and Kate studied his face as they walked.

Part of her wanted to shake him awake, to demand that he give Rosette back, to tell her where Azmaria vanished to, to explain why he did what he did, but she knew there was no point. He took Rosette because he thought he was doing the right thing and he didn't have anything to do with Azmaria. He wouldn't be any help in finding her. Kate sighed and Remington looked at her.

"I feel like screaming at him like some kind of schoolmarm," she admitted. "But I'd never be able to convince him. I'd probably only give him the opportunity to escape."

"What are you going to do?" he asked after a moment.

"What I promised him." They stepped into a large elevator and went down, deep under the church and below the training maze and the regular demonic holding cells. When the doors opened, it was onto a stone corridor dripping with moisture, divine writing inscribed deep into the walls and the floor. The corridor had no doors in it until the end, where a barrier of solid blue crystal stood, glowing dimly in the darkness. They pushed the gurney to the door, where Kate opened it with a golden key.

Inside, the walls, if there were any, were hidden in a glowing mist. Distantly, Kate could see huddled shapes in there, the forms of demons too dangerous to ever risk in a standard cell. Kate crossed herself and took a massive, heavy amulet out of her pocket, putting it on over her head. "Take him off the gurney," she ordered. The men did, all of them careful not to pass the threshold at all. They laid Chrno down and stepped back. Kate took their place, standing above his head and bending down. Grasping him under the armpits, she began to drag him backwards into the cell.

It wasn't easy. He was heavy and she had to do it alone. Without the amulet on, no one could step into the room without being frozen in time. It reminded her of the orphanage where Rosette grew up, now frozen in the horrible moment when Joshua went mad, but it served its purpose. Chrno wouldn't be able to escape. Kate dragged him fully into the room and as far from the door as she dared. She could still see it though, gleaming through the mist, when she set him back down.

"I promised you peace, Sinner," she told him. "Only God knows if you deserve it, but Rosette does. We will bring her home." She brushed a strand of hair out of his face and stood, heading back to the door. Once through, she shuddered and pulled the amulet off again. "Close the door." They did, Remington staring through the shrinking opening the entire time. Kate didn't look back, not wanting to see him. She had to look forward now, to save the girls who needed her.

"Remington," she called, turning to the finest of her militia. "I'm afraid I have another mission for you."

---000---

When Chrno and Rosette moved into the boarding house, they picked a little diner twenty blocks away to be their rendezvous location in case they were attacked and separated. Rosette reached it an hour after she fled the boarding house, after taking a round about route to make sure no one was following her.

"Chrno," she called as she ran in, expecting him to have reached it before her. Then she stopped. Except for an old man reading a paper and the waitress, there was no one there. "Jeez… what's taking him so long?" She threw herself into one of the booths, muttering under her breath.

Twenty minutes later, she was on her third cup of coffee and getting really worried. There was no sign of Chrno at all. That didn't make any sense. He was big, he was immensely powerful, he was freshly full of her astral…

He was completely vulnerable to anyone in the Order commanding him to do something stupid.

"Crap!" Rosette dove out of the booth and ran for the pay phone at the back of the diner. Shoving a penny in, she called Sister Kate's number.

_"Magdalena Order. Sister Kate speaking."_

Rosette exhaled, trying to think of some diplomatic way to ask the question of the woman who wanted her boyfriend dead.

_"Hello? Is anyone there?"_

"Where is he?" Rosette grated.

There was a startled silence. _"Rosette?"_

She leaned against the wall, looking around to make sure no one was listening in. "You know it's me. Where's Chrno?"

_"Rosette, where are you?"_

"WHERE IS HE?" she screamed. The other people in the diner stared at her. Rosette gave an embarrassed laugh and turned her back on them. "Where is he?"

There was another pause. _"He's gone, Rosette. Please, come home."_

Rosette's entire world fell out from under her. He was gone? "What do you mean, gone?" she asked, not sure if she was whispering or screaming. "What did you do to him?"

_"You have to come back, Rosette. It's not too late to save you."_

"Oh, it's too late," she snarled. "It'll be way too late when I rip your head off and feed you your own eyeballs!" She slammed the receiver down hard enough to break the cradle and darted for the washroom. Locking the door behind her, she started to sob.

---000---

Kate set the phone down slowly, troubled. Poor Rosette. Reaching across her desk for a bell, she rang it lightly and a nun stepped into the room and bowed.

"A phone call came to my line. Contact the switchboard and get back to me with the address it came from. Be quick." The nun bowed again and went out the door.

Kate waited, wondering if Rosette would call back. Probably not. She'd handled that badly, but she never knew what to say to the girl. Chrno had indeed saved her life by making her into a demon, but there was so much that was more important.

With Chrno out of the way, she might still be saved. Kate had done a lot of research after the demon took her and was gratified to learn that without his constant taint, she would regain her humanity. Women who had been raped by demons in the past, the few who hadn't had their minds destroyed completely in the process; when they were saved, they eventually became human again when the legions in them died off. Chrno had to keep replenishing them within Rosette to keep her with him, and hopefully neither of them realized that. Kate thought again of that horrible moment when she'd broken into the warehouse with her men, to see that demon mounted on Rosette, screaming out his triumph, and pressed her eyes shut. That nightmare would stay with her the rest of her life. So would the image of him standing nude before Kate herself, daring her to be tempted by his body. It _had_ been tempting, more than she would admit anywhere outside confession, but she had resisted. She would keep resisting, and once she found Rosette, she'd help her to resist as well.

There was a tap at the door and the nun came back in. "We have the address, Sister," she said.

"Excellent. Contact Father Remington and relay the information to him. He'll do the rest." If there was anyone who could bring Rosette back unharmed, it was him.

---000---

Remington reached the diner a half an hour later and walked in alone, ignoring the diners who stared at him in his blue uniform with the huge gold cross on the front. He looked around for a moment and then turned to the waitress.

"Was a blonde girl here?" he asked.

"In the bathroom," she pointed.

Remington nodded and went over to it. Once he was close, he could hear the hysterical wailing on the other side and knocked on the door.

"Rosette? It's Father Remington. Can I come in?"

There was silence and then he heard someone moving inside. Footsteps sounded and the door unlatched. Rosette pulled it open a crack and peered out at him. Her face was red, her eyes bloodshot, and she had very distinct horns poking up through her mussed hair.

"Is Chrno dead?" she asked.

"No," he told her softly and she immediately fell through the door into his arms, weeping. "He's asleep," he told her.

"That damn spell," she growled.

"That damn spell," he agreed. "We took him at the market. He wasn't hurt."

She glared at him. "I should be happy about that?"

"You should be happy a sniper didn't put a Sacred through his head," he told her. "We had your place staked out for two days." She bit her lip. "We'll all worried about you though."

"I don't care." She pulled back. "Where is he?"

"I can't tell you, Rosette." He smiled at her look. "You're a smart girl. I think you can guess." Her eyes narrowed thoughtfully and he put a hand on her shoulder. "I've been instructed to take you back to the Order."

"Huh? Since when do you follow orders?"

"Since I was given no choice." His smile faded. "You have to come with me, Rosette. I'll be in huge trouble if I don't bring you in."

"Really." Her fist shot out, slamming into his stomach. Remington doubled over, gasping.

"God, Rosette," he managed. "You've gotten stronger."

"Yeah. You still have your keys on you?"

"Yes. Left pocket." He coughed and looked at her. "Make it good."

"Thank you, Father," she whispered. Ten seconds later, Remington's body crashed through the front window of the diner and skidded onto the road bonelessly. Startled militia sent to back him up raced to his side, but he was unconscious. They hurried back into the diner then, regrouping, but the girl was gone.

---000---

"Is he all right?" Kate asked worriedly into the phone. She listened to the answer and breathed a sigh of relief. "Take him to the hospital and let me know if there's any change in his condition. Yes. Thank you."

She hung up and rubbed her temples. Remington had underestimated Rosette. No, _she'd_ underestimated the girl. So long as she was in thrall to Chrno, even with him removed, they couldn't trust her at all. They'd have to assume she was as dangerous as any demon, which of course made it harder since they couldn't hurt her. She should have understood that sooner, and made sure that Remington understood it. She'd never forgive herself if he didn't recover.

Kate headed for the door, ready to take a more immediately active part in this mission, before anyone else got hurt.

---000---

Trying to look inconspicuous, and failing rather miserably at it, Rosette crept around the back of Satella Havenheit's apartment building, past the militia left to watch it, now knocked out and tied up, looking for a way in. The doors were all locked though and she didn't dare go through the front entrance. They all knew that the Order was watching Satella, which was why they hadn't gone to her before. And why she and Chrno were living in a dump, Rosette groused. Satella hadn't exactly been carrying a lot of cash the last time she saved them.

Still, she couldn't think where else to go. She needed help to get Chrno back. At least she knew where he was now, and had Remington's keys to get in. He'd told her she could figure out where on the grounds Chrono was. That part was obvious.

Kate herself told her she'd planned to lock Chrno in a cell outside time once Rosette died. She'd heard rumours about that cell. It was in the deepest part of the Order, accessible only by elevator, and Kate kept the amulet that would let anyone enter the cell in her office.

Rosette smirked. She had the keys. Now she just had to figure out how to get onto holy ground ensorcelled to keep her weak and alert people to her presence, break into a building guarded by dozens of armed troops, and sneak out a demon held in a high security prison who fell asleep every time Kate told him to.

"Crap," she muttered. The back door used to take out the garbage was locked. Rosette tugged on it irritably and then lost her temper and really heaved on the thing. The entire door came off its hinges with a loud shriek of torn metal. The girl gaped at it, grinned, and slipped inside, putting it back in the doorway like it belonged. "Thank you, Chrno," she giggled, hurrying down the hall.

There were militia sitting in the lobby, so she took the stairs, running up them two at the time. By the time she got to the tenth floor, she was walking. By the twentieth, she was panting. By the thirtieth, she planned to kill Satella instead of asking for her help.

Finally, she got to the penthouse floor, gasping and pouring sweat. Wheezing, the girl threw the door to the stairwell open and gaped at the four militia standing outside Satella's front door. They stared right back at her, just as surprised.

Rosette recovered first. Shrieking at the top of her lungs, she charged the four of them, firing rounds over their heads into Satella's Waterhouse oil. They ducked and she kicked the first man solidly in the groin before cracking his partner across the jaw with the butt of her gun. A nun who'd surpassed her in theory class grabbed her arm and Rosette threw her rather harder than she'd perhaps had to across the foyer and into the antique Dutch settee, which saved her back from breaking by turning into splinters. The last nun gaped at Rosette.

"But we're on your side!" she protested.

"Yeah?? And you keep stealing all the pudding on Saturday!" Rosette kicked her in the head and stood there panting, glowering at them.

"Tell me you didn't come wanting more money," Satella said from the door.

Rosette glared at her and visibly forced herself to calm down. She wouldn't do Chrno any good if she got into a screaming match with Satella.

"I need your help," she told the older girl. "Sister Kate captured Chrno."

"How? She walk in on you two having sex again?"

Patience. Rosette tried to remember patience. "No. They caught him at the market. It's a long story. Will you help me?"

Satella sighed. "I don't know how much help I can be. I can't even go to the bathroom anymore without someone in blue holding the door for me. But you'd better come in and tell me the details. I'll have Steiner make tea and tally the cost of all that art and furniture you just broke. You'll have to rent Chrno to a male strip club to pay me back."

Rosette ground her teeth together and followed her into the apartment.

---000---

_(Author's note: I like Remington, I really do. I actually like Sister Kate as well, and I'm trying very hard to write her as a character who is true to her beliefs. Kate means well, but of course everyone knows what they say about the road to Hell.)_

_Best part of this chapter is, I have actually managed to figure out how I'm going to resolve this story while remaining internally consistent to all those friggin' hurdles I put in my way in past stories without realising it._

_Worst part is, I just got the urge to write that male strip club scene. Crap… Anybody wanna see a one-shot? ;D _

**Chapter 3**

Dressed in a dark green skirt, boots, and a leather jacket, Rosette stood on the sidewalk across from the main entrance to the Order's grounds. It still felt strange to not be wearing gold and blue, and definitely odd to not have the headdress on, but she couldn't consider herself a nun anymore. Not with demon legions inside her.

To herself, she didn't feel tainted. It was Chrno who made her this way and to reject it would be to reject him. Besides, she didn't feel much different than she had before anyway, though she was really starting to grasp that there were changes, even beyond the appearance of the horns. She was definitely stronger now, and faster. Chrno in his child form hadn't been, though he did tote a two hundred pound weapons box like it was nothing, but he had been sealed. There was nothing holding her back, as long as her legions didn't run out. She wasn't sure how long they would last. Chrno hadn't exactly given her the opportunity to let them get weak.

Rosette rolled her eyes and lowered her hands to her belt. It wasn't the one from her old uniform, but it was close and she was loaded with as much ammunition and weapons as Satella had and she could carry.

Seeing as she was planning a full, frontal assault, she wanted to be prepared.

Rosette started towards the gate, just as a familiar jalopy drove up beside her, headed the same way. It slowed down beside her and she looked through the window at Sisters Mary, Anne, and Claire. All three nuns gaped at her.

"Um," Rosette said. "You might want to run."

They looked at each other. "Why?" Mary asked uncertainly.

Rosette drew one of the guns and grinned at her. "Because it's about to get ugly."

---000---

Sister Kate's head shot up at the boom of what sounded like a hand grenade. Spinning in her chair, she looked out the window to see the main gate covered in smoke. A moment later, the ring on her smallest finger started to glow, showing a demonic presence. It tugged towards the gate and she gasped as a small, blonde figure ran onto the ground through the smoke, firing wildly and yelling at the top of her lungs.

"Oh God," she groaned.

---000---

In a way, it was really good to be attacking the place that made her pray every day, do chores, and held her back from really searching for her brother. Rosette felt herself weaken on the grounds, but she was still as strong as she was used to as a human as she fired a full clip into the fountain she'd been forced so many times to dredge, and at the flowerbeds she'd always hated to weed.

"I WANT CHRNO!" she screamed. "GIVE HIM BACK OR ELSE!" She couldn't really think of a better threat, since she didn't actually plan to kill anyone, but she did want them to take her seriously. All the frustration of a long day, preceded by a longer week of being hunted by her supposed friends, came out of her in a rush. She emptied her guns at the buildings, screaming, and shoved one empty weapon back into its holster before pulling out a full clip to reload the other.

"YOU HAVE NO RIGHT! YOU HAVE NO FUCKING RIGHT! IT'S MY GODDAMNED LIFE AND I'M NOT GOING TO DIE FOR YOU PEOPLE!"

All the rage came out and as militia charged around the buildings at her, she fired into the ground before them, forcing them to scatter before retreating back towards the gate before they could return fire.

She saw Sister Kate then, hurrying out of the admin building to join her troops. Rosette screamed in frustration, putting a round in the wall next to her head. Kate ducked and scrambled for cover while Rosette started to sob, slamming in a new clip.

"I JUST WANT CHRNO! WHY CAN'T YOU UNDERSTAND THAT??"

She saw Kate glaring at her from the cover of a half wall and put another bullet into the stone near her before firing at the militia, getting as close as she could without hitting any of them. She wanted to though, oh how she was starting to want to.

"I WANT CHRNO _NOW!!"_

---000---

Gracefully, Satella hoisted herself up to the top of the wall and swung a leg over. She couldn't see Rosette from where she'd circled around to, but she could definitely hear her.

"Well, she's pissed," the witch chuckled and let herself drop down. Thanks to Rosette's little attack, the back wall of the Order was completely abandoned. Just to be safe though, Satella wore a nun's habit and robes. She doubted any of the nuns had her chest size, but it might hold up to a casual look.

Quickly, since she didn't expect the girl to be able to hold out forever, she ran across the grass to the back of the admin building. In her hand, she carried Remington's keys, each of which was inscribed conveniently with the identity of the room it unlocked. She got into the admin building first and hurried to Sister Kate's office, following the rather crude map Rosette had drawn for her. There were non-combatants hiding inside the rooms, but none of them were inclined to even look at her, let alone try to stop her as she passed.

Kate's office wasn't even locked. Satella swept in and closed the door behind her. It was large, but the furniture was only functional without being opulent. She sniffed and went to the cupboard Rosette had told her about. She had it unlocked a minute later and smirked as she pulled out the amulet, sitting in a bowl in the centre. Kate had a lot of trust in her own people to not keep it a better secret. Then again, she hadn't expected any of her own troops to betray her.

Another explosion sounded outside, another of the grenades going off. Satella tried to remember if she'd given Rosette five or six of them as she glanced out the window. The blonde was sprinting back to the gate, pursued by the militia. She'd have a better chance of holding them off outside the grounds, where she wasn't hampered. Satella didn't really care. She figured Rosette could hold her own no matter where she was, demonic powers or not.

Still, it was better not to waste any of the distraction. Normally, Satella wouldn't have been so keen to take on an entire religious order and commit both breaking and entering and theft against them, but the Order had made her life rather uncomfortable of late. In her mind, this was just payback for the inconvenience. Besides, Chrno was cute.

The amulet in hand, Satella ran back out of the office and down the hall to a side door. This was one of the riskier parts. She'd be exposed heading to the church. If Kate saw her, she might realize what was up.

"BITCH!" she heard Rosette screaming from outside. "SEXLESS OLD CUNT!"

Right, like she'd notice anything but that, Satella thought.

---000---

"Surround her," Kate growled. "Hem her in. Use the holy water to cut off her escape. Do not use Sacreds or Gospels. Try to catch her in the nets."

"Yes, Sister," her people replied, moving out, trying to get close enough to the possessed girl to throw the warded nets over her. She was off the grounds now though, on the road before the wall she'd blown holes in with her grenades. As Kate watched, she threw down a gun and grabbed a car that had been parked there. Hefting it over her head with a shriek, she threw it thirty feet at the militia.

"Dear God," Kate breathed. She'd never imagined Chrno would have made her so strong. Still, how long could she keep it up?

"Keep her fighting!" she ordered. "Force her to use up her legions! Then we'll have her!" Especially if she had a target. Sister Kate stepped out from behind the wall, praying that Rosette would take the bait and exhaust herself trying to get her revenge.

---000---

Asking Satella to go into the Order after Chrno while everything in her demanded she do it herself had been the hardest choice Rosette ever made. To owe that witch anything… she had no choice. She would never make it to Chrno herself. Rosette hated that truth, but she had to face it. The best she could do was in providing a distraction for her, and if she was going to play second fiddle, she was damned well going to play it loud.

"CATCH!" she screamed, throwing a chunk of wall at a trio of militia with a large net. It landed right in the middle of the net as they scattered. "HAH!" She'd ripped out half her fingernails getting it out of the wall, but it was worth it to see the expressions on their faces. Standing just off the grounds, she flung another of her grenades and cheered as it took out the fountain.

Her horns were starting to burn though and she knew she didn't have much time left. Adrenaline had her though, and rage. These _holy_ people took Chrno without giving him any chance to defend himself. They slapped wards and spells on him that made him helpless against them, and he'd let them do it in order to be with her. Worse, he never told her. Rosette screamed, firing her weapons until she realised they were clicking on empty and she was out of spare clips. Then she threw them, imbedding one in the side of the church and flinging the other right through the stained glass above the doors.

"Sister Rosette."

Wild-eyed, Rosette looked to her left to see Sister Kate standing among the ruins and the smoke, her hands folded in her habit.

"I forgive you," she said.

Rosette stared at her. "What?"

"I forgive you, Sister Rosette."

Rosette gaped at her, stunned wordless. She forgave her?? Her face twisted. "I DON'T WANT YOUR FORGIVENESS!" she yelled and charged onto the grounds, her horns screaming in pain.

---000---

Satella wrenched open the rectory door on the church and ran down the rear corridor, headed for the elevator Rosette promised her. It was unguarded, the grey steel locked down. She pushed her key into the lock and turned it. A moment later, the doors opened and she ran inside, letting them close behind her. The church shook and she started cursing as she put in the key for the lowest prison floor. Rosette was going to owe her massively for this one. Maybe enough for a night with Chrno in his child form? She doubted it.

The elevator opened again, showing a damp corridor with only one door at the end. Satella hurried to it and searched for the key. It was small and golden, inscribed with a cross, and the smallest key on the ring.

The room it opened was full of mist and so cold that she shivered, staring at it. There was something inherently wrong about that room and she put the amulet around her neck with a prayer of her own that it would work. She could see shapes in there, inhuman forms, and she didn't know which one was Chrno.

Satella stepped into the room. It was cool, but with the amulet on, it didn't feel any worse than that. Her instincts told her to get out of there fast though and she hurried forward to the first shape, careful to never lose track of the door.

The shape was a demon, a twisted, nightmarish thing that made her blanch. Satella left it and went to the next. More human but still evil looking.

She found Chrno next. He lay stretched full length on his back, his body wrapped in white, glowing rope and his hands tied together before him. He was blindfolded as well, the black cloth embroidered by white symbols.

Satella stared at him. He wasn't moving at all. In fact, a corpse would have more movement. Even his hair didn't shift as she knelt beside him. Locked outside of time, Rosette had said. Satella shook her head and grabbed him by the rope tied around his ankles, slowly dragging him out of the room.

It took a while. He was heavy and the ropes created friction on the ground that made it harder. Satella finally got him out though and shut the door, not wanting to see any more of that place. "Chrno?" she called, slapping his face lightly. There was no response and she sighed.

"WAKE UP!" she screamed and belted him.

Chrno gasped, sitting up. "Rosette??"

"Not quite," she laughed and started to untie him.

A minute later, Chrno sat on the floor, staring up at her in confusion. "Satella? What's going on?"

"You were caught by the Order," Satella told him. "I just dragged you out of some bizarre cell, and believe me, my bill for services rendered is going to be steep."

He blinked. "Where's Rosette?"

She stood. "Holding off the cavalry. Come on." She held out a hand and hauled him up to his feet. He still looked dazed, but what she'd said was sinking in.

"We have to help Rosette," he told her, hurrying at her side for the elevator.

"Great. So turn into that winged demon thing. That should get their attention."

He looked at her apologetically. "I can't. I can't change shape on holy ground. It was one of the Oaths they made me take."

"Well, that was dumb," she groused. "Oh! That reminds me!"

---000---

Outraged beyond coherent thought, Rosette ran at Sister Kate. She was out of ammo and grenades and the holy ground drained her strength, but she was going to punch that woman's teeth down her throat. Kate watched her approach, then grabbed her swinging fist and stepped out of the way.

Somehow, Rosette ended up flying upside down into the dirt. She landed with a grunt and gaped upward, not sure what just happened. A second later she heard footsteps and scrambled to her feet before someone could grab her, her face red.

Kate stood a few meters away, gesturing for the militia to stay back. She looked at Rosette evenly. "This battle is over," she told her.

"Like hell." Rosette charged and ended up flying again.

"Stop doing that!" she screamed.

"You leave me no choice," Kate told her. "I don't want to harm you."

"You just want me to die," Rosette snarled, scrambling to her feet.

"I never wanted that," Kate assured her, "but you must live the life God intended for you. I can't bear to see you suffer an eternity fighting that."

"Narrow-minded old-" Rosette leaped forward and swung at her, but Kate stepped out of the way and the girl nearly stumbled her knees. Her horns were an agony now and her legs were starting to feel like water. "What's happening to me?" she gasped.

"Your legions are dying," Kate told her solemnly. "You're becoming human again, praise God."

Rosette went cold. She had no life force left as a human. She'd die like this. "Chrno!" she gasped. "I need Chrno!"

"He's lost to you, child. Forget him, please."

---000---

Chrno ran down the corridor to the front of the church, frantic. Free of the cell, he could feel Rosette. He could feel her pain and he could feel her fading. He skidded to a stop on the top of the steps and stared. Rosette was laying on the ground, surrounded by militia, Sister Kate standing over her as she struggled to get to her feet.

She was dying, her legions all but depleted. He couldn't hear what Kate was saying to her, but he could imagine. Eternal life, God, all that crap he couldn't understand or believe in, denied it as he was. Desperate, he looked at Satella and she rolled her eyes before throwing her arm up, the jewel on her glove glowing.

Immediately, her jewel knight appeared above her and charged, scattering the militia in its wake. Chrno raced after it, sprinting for his lover's side as the knight swung its sword wildly, forcing the militia to retreat and immune to the weapons they normally used on demons.

Rosette lay in the eye of that chaos. Chrno skidded to his knees beside her and stared into her beautiful blue eyes. They were full of tears at the sight of him and he put a trembling hand to her cheek before looking up at Kate.

She glared at him with real hate in her eyes, her lips moving. Chrno grinned at her. "I can't hear you," he told her and pulled Rosette up in his arms. Kate's eyes widened and she moved forward to stop him, but Rosette twisted in his arms before he could do anything and kicked her. The woman dropped to her knees, both hands cupping her bloody nose. Chrno thought about making some sort of cutting remark, but settled for running for the gate. The instant he was through it, he changed to his demon form and was airborne, blasting into the sky.

---000---

"I guess that's my cue," Satella murmured and made a gesture. Immediately, her knight turned back, grabbing her up in its arms and loping in the other direction. She'd have to move, she supposed. The Order was likely to be cranky with her, but that was all right. She was getting tired of New York.

---000---

"Are you feeling better?" Chrno gasped, heaving for breath as he looked down at the equally naked woman pinned beneath him, her legs wrapped around his waist.

Rosette reached up and pulled the plugs out of his ears. "Getting there," she answered breathlessly. "Did you have to pick _here_ for this?"

Chrno looked around at the steeple he had her pressed against. "What's wrong with the Empire State Building?"

"It's cold."

"I didn't exactly have time to look for somewhere comfortable," he pointed out and she grinned, shifting under him suggestively. He groaned.

"We really have to do something about those Oaths," she told him. "Soon."

"I know, I know." He smiled at her. "Thanks for coming to get me."

"You're welcome." She kissed his nose and frowned at him. "I'd really like it if you didn't make it necessary though."

"I'll try not to do it again."

"You do that. I can't afford Satella's rates." She looked around at their surroundings and at his barbed tail, currently imbedded in the side of the steeple to keep them from falling off. His wings were furled around them both, the closest he had to a blanket. "We've never done it like this before."

He couldn't help but grin. "Did you like it?"

"Pervert." She put a hand to his cheek. "I love you, Chrno. I just about lost my mind when I thought you were dead."

"I'd never leave you," he promised, wrapping his wings and arms around her. "Not ever."

"Good," she growled. "You're not allowed to." He smiled happily, quite content with that. "So," she asked a moment later. "Where are our clothes?"

He looked down the side of the building they were on. "Um…"

"CHRNO!"

**THE END**

_Feed a starving writer. Write a review. ___


	5. Oaths

**OATHS **

By Hydraa

_This is the sequel to "Horns." Read in order, the stories are:_

_"To Find the Watch"_

_"Demons"_

_"Horns"_

_"Oaths"_

_Reviews don't make me write, but they do encourage me to prioritize it higher. If you like the story, let me know. Enjoy._

---000---

The Jazz club was old and dark, the walls darkened by the smoke that clouded the ceiling. The furniture was old as well, tattered and needing new upholstery, the tables stained and scratched by the decades of glasses put on them.

The music was marginally better, a saxophone player sitting on a stool atop the stage and playing a mournful tune for the dozen or so people watching. It was a dark place, the feel of it heavy enough to drive most people away.

The blonde and the little boy looked spectacularly out of place.

"Look," the blonde said, dressed in a gown that was too big for her and a hat with a lacy brim that didn't match. "I heard that you know how to do it. I came looking for information."

The man she was talking to, a seedy enough individual on his own, regarded her dubiously. She looked like she was playing dress-up in her mommy's clothes and her little brother wasn't much better. Half his head was hidden in a tweed cap, covering his hair completely, and he was so shy he never looked up. He wore clothes as old as the girl's, his shorts tattered and his shirt torn. They looked like clothes picked up at the salvation army, by people too poor to afford better.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he said evenly, trying to go back to his drink.

The girl's eyes narrowed. "Look," she snapped. "Fast Eddie said you were the one to come talk to, Frank. I want some answers." She grabbed his wrist, her grip surprisingly strong. He tried to pull away, but she actually held him still and he felt the first flash of anger.

"Look, girl, you don't know what you're messing with. I'm doing you a favour. So buzz off and forget this. Otherwise you'll end up dead."

She wasn't moved. "I'm not leaving. You know how to summon demons. I want to know how to control them."

"Shut it!" he hissed, looking around to see if anyone was listening. No one was, all focused drunkenly on the saxophone player or their own conversations. "This isn't the place to bring this up."

"So take us somewhere where it is," she retorted. "I'll make it worth your while."

Frank frowned and gave her a more considerate look. She was temperamental and probably more trouble than she was worth, but she looked like she might just clean up pretty well and it had been a long time since he'd been with a woman. His interest started to peek. "All right," he decided at last. "Meet me out back in five minutes." He pointed at the boy. "Leave him here." The boy just shrugged his shoulders, never looking up at him.

The girl frowned. "Fine. Five minutes. But you better have something good for me, Frank."

"Trust me," Frank said and stood, heading out. He was starting to get excited as he went outside and around the building to the back alley, straightening his tie. Perhaps this night wouldn't be such a waste after all. There were lots of girls interested in summoning their own pet demon. It usually turned out bad for them, but they didn't know that and were willing to do anything for the information. Or so Frank had heard. He'd certainly never had any women coming after him wanting to know how to summon demons. He knew in theory; he'd never had the nerve to try it himself, but his cousin had and they'd learned the techniques together, before Frank chickened out and Arthur ended up eaten.

He went into the alley, a place of more than one clandestine meeting, and leaned against the wall, trying to be nonchalant. She wanted the info. If she wanted it that badly, he didn't have to feel guilty. She'd be happy. He'd be happy. Everyone would be happy.

A few minutes later, the girl rounded the corner, stumbling in her too-long, pink dress. It really didn't look good on her, but Frank was getting too aroused to care. She had long, curly hair under that blue hat of hers and heavy boots on her feet. She'd look better without them on. The little boy was nowhere to be seen.

She walked up to him and stopped, her hands crossed over her chest. "Okay, start talking. I want to know how to summon and control a demon. How to make them do exactly what I want."

"Don't you want us to get to know each other better first?" Frank cajoled, reaching for her, but she stepped out of his way.

"I want answers," she told him, her lips curling. "Don't touch me."

Frank stiffened, suddenly angry. She was just like all the other women. If he told her what she wanted, she'd run off on him, laughing about how useless he was. He flushed. No woman treated him this way, at least not when he had a few glasses of liquid courage in him.. "Don't you p-pull that," he stammered. "You're going to give me what I want."

She laughed. "Or what?"

He stepped towards her, looking as threatening as he could. "I'm bigger than you are, girlie. You better do what I say."

"Not likely." She looked past him. "Chrno?"

Surprised, Frank turned. Standing behind him, where the alley stopped at a dead end, was the little boy. He'd taken off his cap and his long hair hung down to his knees, twisted into a braid held by a ribbon. His hands shoved in his pockets, he lifted his head and looked at him.

Frank gasped. The boy's eyes were slitted like a cat's, his ears pointed. He looked at Frank and snarled, the edge of a canine poking out between his lips. "Don't touch her," he growled and changed. One moment, Frank was looking at the boy, the next he had grown to tower over him, wings flaring out from his lean frame and a bone tail coming out from the back of his head. It lashed dangerously in the air, making a singing sound. Frank backed up, whimpering at the demon until he felt the girl's hand on his back and heard her chuckle.

"You better answer my questions now," she said.

Frank gaped at the demon. "W-why do you need to know how to control demons?" he gasped, distantly horrified at the realization that he'd wet himself. "You have one!"

"None of your business," she snapped. "Now start talking."

---000---

Home, at least for the moment, was the third floor of an abandoned building near the wharfs of New York. Rosette kicked the door open and stomped into their small space, her skin itching from the cheap material of her dress. Without even pausing to look around, she yanked it off over her head and tossed it into the corner, along with the hat she'd been wearing to hide her horns.

Behind her, Chrno followed her in and shut the door behind him before going to light one of the candles. He was back in his little boy form and he had to stretch to reach them all. Lighting one, he used it to light the others and the one lamp they had.

"I don't know how much help he was," he said at last, his only comment on the situation.

Rosette grabbed her usual skirt and shirt and yanked them on to hide how disgruntled she was feeling herself. Frank had known a bit about how to summon a demon, but not nearly enough on how to control one. If he'd ever tried it himself, he probably would have botched the job and ended up dead. "We can't use any of it?"

"I don't think so. I'm not exactly an expert on this."

Rosette glared at him, standing there in the warm glow of the candlelight. He looked depressed and she resisted the urge to snap at him. He hadn't had much choice but to get into the trouble they were currently trying to get him out of.

"I guess we're back to square one," she admitted instead.

"Yeah." He looked away, at the pile of blankets that had to serve as their bed and the old crate that held their only belongings. There wasn't much. Just a few pieces of clothing and her gun belt and guns, none of which she had ammunition for anymore. "We do have the other names."

"Yes. Frank was the easiest to get to though." The other one would likely be much more dangerous.

Chrno went to stand by the broken window and Rosette sighed. When she first joined the Holy Order of Magdalena, they hadn't been willing to just accept a demon tagging along with her, even though his powers were bound at the time. They'd taken Chrno without her knowing and bound him further. Rosette didn't know for sure what they'd done to him, but Chrno couldn't change shape on holy ground, couldn't act to hurt a human, and couldn't disobey an order made by someone in the Order. That included an order to die. For years, it hadn't been an issue, until he used his legions to turn her into a demon and save her life. Now the Order saw him as an enemy and he had no defence against them. That was the source of his current depression. They could do anything to him if they found him and he blamed himself for it. Somehow, they had to find a way to break him free of their control.

Rosette walked over to him and put an arm around his shoulders. No longer dependant on her life force, he could change shape now and preferred his adult form, given their intimacy. For him to be a boy again meant he was shutting himself off from her, not wanting to share his mood. Rosette hugged him against her and noogied his head. "Well, nothing's going to get done with us just sitting here. Let's go after the next name." Wrapping an arm around his neck, she dragged him out of the room, slamming the door behind her. A moment later, Chrno banged back in and blew out the candles and the lamp before running back out to her. Rosette considered it a good sign that he put his head back under her arm as they left. Their belongings they didn't really worry about. They didn't have much worth stealing and she'd convinced the last thief that it wasn't worth the effort. He'd really taken the lesson to heart by the time she let him go.

---000---

Their second destination was a hotel in a more upscale part of town. In an alley around the corner from it, Chrno glided to a landing, Rosette in his arms. It was risky to fly, since someone might see them, but they hardly had money for a taxi. He set her down and she went to check the mouth of the alley as he changed back. The street was mostly deserted, not surprising for two in the morning.

Rosette glanced back at Chrno, back in his boy form. "Change to adult," she told him. "You'll stand out too much otherwise." He sighed and shifted, becoming a tall young man with long hair and, still, pointed ears. He wore a bandana around his forehead to hide the eyebuds there and he wore a poncho over his more western style clothing. He'd still stand out in a New York hotel, but not as badly as a little boy in the middle of the night. That had been okay in the Jazz club since it made them both look harmless to the paranoid Frank, but it wouldn't work here. Rosette just hoped her clothes didn't stand out too badly. They were the best she had left anymore.

"Come on," she told him and took the lead. Chrno followed her without protest, much as he always did. He argued sometimes, but his was a submissive personality, much like most demons. She'd dominated him since the moment they met, and even if she were inclined to wonder if she was being unfair, he preferred it that way. He was a soldier demon and had to have a master to feel complete. They were equal though. Rosette may have been the leader, but she made sure he had as much say as she did.

If she hadn't basically bullied him into it though, she suspected he'd still be in Magdalene's tomb, sleeping eternally next to the crypt of the last woman he'd given himself to.

Magdalene, however, had never had as much of him as Rosette though. The girl smirked over her shoulder at her lover and saw his confused look before she led the way into the hotel.

Their clues came from her barely remembered look at a list of suspected demon worshippers back when she was in the Order. The first name had taken them to a bookstore owner who sold occult books, and five minutes of Chrno in his normal form got a list of four names out of him. The first two had been dead. Frank had been the third. This name was the last. The night concierge of the Elegant Swan hotel; a clean, brightly decorated establishment that Rosette never would have thought of as being a centre for demon worship and summoning. According to their contact though, it was, and had been for years.

Rosette wondered if Sister Kate knew.

The night concierge with a stout, middle-aged man with a thick moustache and the name "Daniels" on the badge he wore on his jacket. He looked at them evenly as they came in, nodding in greeting until they got close enough for him to see Chrno's lavender coloured hair, eyes, and pointed ears. Rosette's horns were hidden strategically underneath her pigtails.

Daniels turned back to Rosette, his expression suddenly more calculating. "How may I assist you, madam?" he asked.

Rosette leaned on the counter and grinned at him seductively, missing how Chrno rolled his eyes. "I hear this is the place to come to party," she told him.

"Oh? What sort of party are you referring to, madam?"

Rosette twirled her hair around her finger, unwittingly almost uncovering one horn. "The sort where people bring special guests," she intimated, cocking a thumb towards Chrno.

Daniels inspected the demon for a moment, making Chrno look away uncomfortably.

"Yes, madam. Come this way, please." He led the way through the back. Rosette shot Chrno a thumbs up and followed him. Rolling his eyes again, Chrno followed. Rosette was nothing if not a lousy actor and he kept his eyes and senses open. He could feel demonic energy here, something he doubted Rosette was sensitive enough to pick up on yet, and he had no way to tell her.

Daniels led them down a staff corridor and stopped at a door. "This way please," he told them as he unlocked the door. On the far side, a staircase led downwards towards a basement.

Chrno heard the music immediately, an oddly discordant big band tune that echoed bizarrely. The staircase led straight down and opened into a foyer with a curtain closed across it.

"Welcome to Hotel Hell," the concierge told them and opened the curtain.

Rosette and Chrno both gasped in shock. The entirety of the basement was lit by electrical light and filled with huge, soft pillows. A massive, ornate circle had been drawn in the centre of the floor, something sinuous and inhuman twisting in it and mewling. On many of the pillows were men and women, coupling with things that were definitely demons, some vaguely human in appearance, many of them not. Rosette's face flamed bright red.

Chrno looked around in confusion. They were low rank demons, late births in a clutch that didn't receive the same care as the earlier ones. As a result, they were weaker and stupid, barely good enough for manual labour or in some cases food. They were the easiest and most common form of demon summoned, but he'd never imagined an orgy like this. Demons almost as a rule didn't have sex. Only Pandemonium did and she killed her partners. After thousands of generations of it, demons were at their most vulnerable during sex, their minds open to destruction by any but the most gentle of touches.

Chrno glanced at Rosette's blushing face. This whole thing made a mockery of what he had with her. He gave her his legions with his body, she gave him her astral with her kiss, and even though both were demons, he survived her touch. He could feel how open the demons in the room were, only held back from destroying their partners and each other by the strength of the Oaths they'd been bound by. They raged against it though and he reached out to grip Rosette's arm, his touch a silent warning.

She forced her blush down and turned to the concierge, trying to look haughty and failing. "V-very good," she stammered. He looked doubtful, but Chrno let his eyes glow, a hint of his true form shimmering around him, and the man nodded.

"Enjoy your visit, madam. Someone will be here to explain the rules of the house to you. I need to return to my station." He nodded to someone and turned away, vanishing back through the curtain.

Chrno tried to say something then to Rosette, but a woman rose from a group of pillows, leaving something with multiple arms behind, and swayed towards them, dressed only in a piece of translucent lingerie. Rosette gaped at her.

"Welcome," the woman purred, smiling sleepily at Rosette and then looked at Chrno. "Oh, he's _gorgeous_. I've never seen one like him." She circled him and Chrno flinched as she reached out to trace a hand along his ribs and around to his backside.

"Hands off!" Rosette snapped. "He's mine."

The woman frowned. "We like to share here."

"Not him you don't." Rosette stepped between them, her embarrassment banished by her anger.

"Then why are you here?" the woman pouted, crossing her arms.

Chrno saw Rosette start, realizing her mistake. Neither of them had expected to find an orgy though. "Um… that is…"

The woman's eyes narrowed. "Why are you here?" she asked again. Some of the others were starting to take notice of them, turning away from their demon partners.

"Ah, applesauce," Rosette muttered, looked up at Chrno, and then punched the woman solidly in the nose. She fell down onto her bottom with a shriek.

"Okay!" Rosette yelled, hands on her hips. "I want some answers out of you people!"

Chrno sighed, already seeing what was coming.

"Kill them!" the first woman yelped nasally. "Now!"

Instantly, the demons surged forward, attacking. Rosette blanched and then Chrno was past her, changing into his full demon form as his wings spread and he lashed around with the whip tail that came out of the base of his skull. It speared through the first of the demons, ripping it apart, and its blood spattered on the suddenly screaming human witnesses. They tried to run for the door, but the demons were between them.

Chrno fought back with his claws and whip, lashing out at the demons. He was immensely more powerful than they, but his energy sources were limited by how much Rosette could give him, and she couldn't fill him enough to let him use his greatest powers. He had to settle for tearing them apart, trying not to get bit or clawed himself in the limited space. Rosette cursed behind him and he heard a crashing sound before she appeared beside him, brandishing a chair leg.

A demon with three heads facing outward from a long stalk lunged at them, its eyes insane. Chrno knelt and slashed, slicing his sharp claws across its throat. It shrieked, throwing itself to the side, and Rosette bashed it on top of its heads, knocking it to the floor. It was replaced by a thing with a body like a malformed baby and the wings of a dragonfly, screaming curses as it flew for his face. Chrno impaled it on the end of his tail and whipped the creature around, flinging it at another of the demons. Rosette hit a fourth with her chair arm and he slashed it with the whip tail as well before it could rise again.

The entire battle took only minutes, all of the demons killed and most of the humans fled. The woman with the broken nose still knelt there though, staring around herself at the carnage as though her entire world had fallen apart.

"What have you done?" she wailed.

Rosette stomped over to her while Chrno peered at a deep cut on his chest and walked up to her side.

"I want to know how you control demons," Rosette said coldly. "How you bind them and what Oaths you use."

The woman stared at Chrno and then back at her. "But you _have_ a demon already."

"Don't argue! Just answer me!" She brandished her makeshift cudgel and the woman flinched.

---000---

Some hours later, Rosette soaked a cloth in the bathroom of an all-night diner and pressed it against the cut on Chrno's chest. He winced slightly but let her, his sleepy eyes never leaving her face. She cleaned it and peered at the wound, hoping it wouldn't need stitches.

"You shouldn't have let them hit you," she scolded.

"I hardly planned it. At least we got the information we wanted." He yawned.

Rosette glared up at him. They had, but it angered her still that there were people like that, and without the authority of the Order to call on, they'd get away with it. They were lucky beyond belief that they'd survived their stupidity and they'd probably just do it again, until they messed up and got someone killed. Usually, it was someone innocent who died too.

"Stupid bloody idiots," she muttered, dabbing at the wound. It wasn't bleeding anymore at least. "They're not getting away with it." Chrno's eyes closed, his head nodding, and her expression softened. He'd used up a lot of energy in that fight.

Straightening up, she hooked a hand around his neck. His eyes opened to look at her again as she pulled him down to kiss her.

Immediately, astral flowed out of her mouth and into his. He accepted it gratefully, letting it saturate his starving cells as the wound on his chest closed.

Rosette let him go and smiled. "Better?"

"Better," he agreed.

She tossed the cloth into the sink. "Come on, we better get out of here before someone realises we're both in the same bathroom. I want to go get some sleep." She led the way out into the empty diner, the waitress asleep in her booth and not noticing them. It wasn't even dawn outside, the view out the window still dark.

Rosette paused, remembering the last diner she'd been in. She glanced at Chrno and went to the back of the diner, where a pay phone hung. "Do you have a nickel?" she asked.

"What are you doing?" he asked, even as he fished one out of the tip jar on the counter and handed it to her.

"Making sure those people don't try something like this again." She dialled a number and waited.

"_Holy Order of Magdalene,"_ she heard a sleepy voice say a few moments later.

"Get Sister Kate on the line," she ordered. "It's Sister Rosette Christopher."

_"Oh! Yes!"_ the startled voice replied. _"Just a moment."_ Rosette heard the phone put down and the sound of footsteps running.

"What are you doing?" Chrno asked warily.

Rosette grinned at him. "Ratting out some demon worshippers. Unless you want to spend the next year tracking them down, that is."

"Not really."

It took three minutes and a few more nickels before Sister Kate came on the line.

_"Sister Rosette?"_ she heard and tried hard not to think about how the woman had captured Chrno, imprisoned him, and tried quite seriously to kill him.

"Shut up and listen," Rosette snapped. "I'm still mad at you, but I found out something you should know. There's a demon worshipper cult working out of The Elegant Swan hotel. The concierge, a guy called Daniels, is in on it. They summon demons in the basement. Chrno and me got rid of the demons, but they can just summon more. You go get them and leave us alone."

_"I see,"_ the nun said. _"I'll have the militia investigate."_ She paused. _"Are you all right, Rosette?"_

Rosette hung up.

"Well," she said to her partner a little too brightly. "Let's go. I want some sleep before we try this."

He looked at her for a moment, but he knew better than to push when it wasn't wanted. He nodded and followed her obediently out the door.

---000---

Chrno slept until late in the afternoon and woke with Rosette cuddled against him, her head on his shoulder and her drool pooling on his chest. She was snoring, like usual, and he smiled. She was just about the most unattractive woman he could imagine like this, but he loved her anyway.

He especially loved what she was trying to do for him now. He knew he hadn't been much help with it. He'd been depressed since the Order captured him, using the Oaths he'd sworn to knock him out. Rosette had nearly died getting him back.

He was a liability to her, but he couldn't leave. They'd both die if he did, but he couldn't trust himself. He just didn't know what the Order did to him. He remembered being led into the huge room with the circle in it, the militia gathering around it as the circle was closed, but nothing after that. Not until he woke up.

It never should have happened, he never should have let them, but what else could he have done? Rosette needed the Order to find her brother, and she needed him to help. He had to do what they wanted, for her.

Only now they didn't have the Order's help to find Joshua anymore, he thought miserably. It had all been for nothing.

Except Rosette was alive. He could never regret that.

Except she had only been dying in the first place because of you and that cursed Contract, he thought. If only they hadn't found him, he could have stayed asleep in Magdelene's crypt, his remaining astral draining away. But even if he did, Joshua would still have been taken by Aion and driven mad. Only Rosette would have been frozen in time like the rest of the children at her orphanage without him to save her.

Chrno shuddered violently and Rosette punched his chest, mumbling something. He stared at her, eyes wide. He hadn't thought of that before. He clutched her tight, suddenly not able to get close enough.

She started awake. "What the-" she managed, her voice muffled.

"I love you," Chrno breathed into her hair. "I love you so much. Don't ever leave me."

"I'm not going to- mmph! Chrno!" She smacked him in the ribs and struggled free, her eyes wide and angry. "What's wrong with you?"

Chrno shrugged, embarrassed. "Nothing."

"Don't nothing me, what's wrong?!"

He looked away. "I think I had a bad dream. I just needed to hold you." She looked dubious and he managed a smile. "Sorry I woke you."

"Idiot," she grumbled, scratching her hands through her hair and rolling away from him to stand up, not wanting him to see how he'd frightened her. "We should get started." She picked up an old book she'd bullied out of the Satanist woman. The chapter she was wanted was well worn by use. She didn't want to think how many demons had been called up using it.

She looked over her shoulder at Chrno brightly. "Come on."

---000---

What was it with them and warehouses? Rosette wondered, looking around. They were in one near the building they'd been sleeping in. It wasn't abandoned, but there was a lot of open space in it and no one was there on a Sunday.

Using a piece of chalk, Rosette drew an immense, ornate circle, careful not to make it any different from the one in the book. Neither of them being sure if he should help when he was the subject of the spell, Chrno sat in the centre, waiting quietly while she drew it around him. He was back in his child form, twisting his braid in his hands while he watched her.

Finally, Rosette finished and cocked her head. "Does it look right?" she asked.

"I think so. I didn't really study the first one."

Rosette frowned. She couldn't exactly stand around all day wondering about it. Best way to find out if it worked was to try. She rubbed her hands together eagerly. "Well, let's do it." Picking the book up again, she turned to the next page and carefully pronounced the words written there.

Power flashed through the circle, turning the chalk lines into glowing shards of red light. Rosette gasped and flipped the page, reading aloud further. The lines turned green and then white. A low hum sounded, echoing through the warehouse.

"It worked!" she gasped. "Chrno, it… Chrno!"

The small demon sat in the centre of the circle, his hands limp in his lap and his head lax, his eyes closed. Rosette had to fight the sudden urge to run to him. She didn't know what breaking the circle now would do.

Instead she swallowed and went to the next page and the instructions it gave to bind a demon.

"Chrno," she called. "Chrno the untitled one, Chrno the hornless one, Chrno the killer of a thousand demons. I call you."

"I hear you," Chrno answered, still unmoving. His voice was deeper than normal, reverberating strangely. "Command me."

"Right," she muttered, reading further. "Where was it… ah. Chrno. I call you by name. You will obey me without question. Without guile. Without hope."

"I will obey you without question. Without guile. Without hope," he repeated.

Suddenly, Rosette was outraged. This was what a summoning was? This was what was done to demons called up from Pandemonium? This was what the Order did to her Chrno? She wanted to hit someone, or scream, or something. Instead she took a deep breath.

"Chrno," she told him, careful to keep using his name. "The Order of Magdalena gave you Oaths. List them for me."

"I will not harm a member of the Holy Order of Magdalena," he said. "I will not harm a human. I will not change my shape on holy ground. I will sleep upon the command of the Order. I will die upon the command of the Order. I will do nothing to harm Rosette Christopher."

Rosette pressed her lips together. "Chrno," she said furiously. "You will not be bound by these Oaths anymore. They will have no effect upon you. Do you understand?"

"I will not be bound by these Oaths anymore," he repeated. "I will not… I will…." He thrashed, eyes still closed. "I will do nothing to harm Rosette Christopher. I will do nothing to harm Rosette Christopher!" He shuddered in pain. "Please!"

She blinked in surprise. The book warned that demons would try to fight the Oaths, but she hadn't really been expecting it of Chrno. Still, what was the harm? "Okay, okay!" she decided. "Chrno, you are bound by one Oath only. You will do nothing to harm Rosette Christopher. Do you understand?"

"I will do nothing to harm Rosette Christopher." He relaxed again.

Rosette sighed. She couldn't really complain about that Oath, much as she didn't like him being held by anything. "Remember your Oath and be under its command," she intoned and with that, she kicked the circle, breaking it.

The light vanished instantly and Chrno blinked, coming awake. Rosette ran to his side. "Are you okay?" she asked him.

"I think so." He rubbed his head. "What happened?"

"I got rid of most of the Oaths," she admitted.

He looked at her. _"Most_ of them?"

"You wouldn't let me get rid of one that says you can't hurt me. So I left it in. The rest are gone."

The little demon stared at her and shimmered, becoming a man. "I'm bound not to harm you?"

"Apparently," she admitted, sitting beside him.

Chrno stared at her and started to laugh, shaking his head. "I guess you're safe from the big bad demon then."

She smirked and leaned against him. "Like I was ever in any danger from you, you pervert."

---000---

"Gee, we should have brought popcorn."

Seated on top of a building a few blocks from the Elegant Swan Hotel, Rosette and Chrno watched the Magdalena Order overrun it, dragging out screaming, half dressed humans and throwing them into the back of paddy wagons. Chrno grunted noncommittally and she grinned, giggling under her breath while she watched the excitement.

Chrno leaned back against an air vent and watched his lover instead of the Order. He'd been thinking since she'd broken the Order's hold on him and he'd come to some conclusions.

Something inside him had desperately wanted to keep that last Oath and he thought he'd figured out why. He loved Rosette, he loved to be with her and to make love to her, but he was still a demon. Her very humanness let her touch his opened mind and soul without hurting him when they were together, but he wouldn't be able to do the same. Without that Oath, he wouldn't be able to hold himself back from her own opened mind and he'd kill her reaching for it. The Oath protected her from him.

It seemed he owed Kate something. Chrno sighed and leaned closer to Rosette. He didn't exactly plan to thank her or anything, but he could be grateful. Rosette felt him move over and leaned against him, still watching the hotel.

"We should do this more often," she giggled.

"Yes," he agreed, putting an arm around her and resting his head atop hers. "We should."

They watched the Order work then for a while, just enjoying each other's company for the time being. Everything else could wait until later, including Joshua. Chrno cuddled his lover and smiled, content at last.

**THE END**


	6. Voyage

**VOYAGE**

By Hydraa

_This story takes place after "Oaths". There's some lemon, so be warned._

_Reviews are always appreciated. Thanks much. Enjoy._

---000---

The train hurried along the tracks, steam pouring out of its stack as the engine raced along, towing its passenger cars across the rich farmlands, headed for distant cities. Farmers in those fields looked up as it passed, some turning right back to their work, others watching it wistfully, until everyone stared upwards in shock at what was approaching the train.

Wings stretched out wide, Chrno swept down on a thermal, angling over the train and through the steam from its smoke stack. On his back, Rosette yelped and smacked him in the back of the head with her fist.

"Watch where you're going!" she yelled.

"Stop squirming!" he fired back. "This isn't as easy as it looks!"

"Your tail's too tight!"

"And you're going to fall off!"

Still arguing, they shot across the field, workers below staring and pointing as they followed the wind currents. They felt like a pressure under Chrno's body and wings, their warmth pushing him up as he tried to use his wings as much as possible and his astral as little as he could get away with. It really wasn't so easy to do. His abdominal muscles and legs were getting sore from the need to keep his body straight in the air, and his back was really starting to turn into a nightmare. Rosette lay along it, her full weight right on his spine between his wings and her arms looped around his neck. He had a solid grip on her forearms with his clawed hands, which she complained about, and his whip tail was wrapped several times around them both, which she complained about. Worse, she kept shifting around, trying to look at the scenery or to get comfortable, and she was throwing off his balance. The heavy pack she wore on her back only increased the problem. Chrno suspected he was trying to fly with close to two hundred extra pounds pushing him down. They were making fairly good time, at least in comparison to the train, but nothing like what he could do on his own with his horns intact. He was more than a little worried that he'd hit a cold patch in the air while she was trying to do one of her gymnastics manoeuvres and end up doing a header straight into the ground. They were a lot lower than he'd like, but he was just carrying too much to get any decent height.

Rosette didn't agree. "Do you have to go so high?" she whimpered.

Chrno looked down at the ground, barely fifty feet below them. He guessed that, if he _did_ hit a cold patch, that would give him roughly enough time to swear before they hit. He needed more altitude, fast.

He looked back at the train they'd caught up to. It was putting on speed, obviously trying to outrun them, and its windows were crowded with passengers, staring in fear. Great. Sister Kate would know they'd left New York a lot sooner than he'd have liked. Knowing their dumb luck, some of her militia would be _on_ that train.

Still, he needed height, and if he could manage it this time, that train would give it to them.

"Hang on," he warned.

"Hang on? What do you mean, hang on?? I'm hanging on!"

The demon banked, his lover screaming on his back as he angled towards the train's smoke stack, trying to go slow enough to get into its steam without stalling in mid air or crashing into the side of it. Rosette was freaking out, throwing her legs around, and he tightened his tail around her, afraid she'd knee him between the legs or something. She certainly had the angle for it.

"Chrno!" she screamed. "I'm going to kill you! Stop! Stop!"

Chrno swept into the hot, blinding steam of the train, wishing he had her goggles, and flared his wings. This time he got the angles right and the sail of his wings caught the heat and threw them upwards like a cannon. They hit a comfortable five hundred feet in seconds and he found a cloud thermal, a current of warm air that carried them westward, far above the train.

"That's better," he sighed. He didn't have to work so hard up here. Ahead, a mountain of clouds filled the sky, but he'd be able to angle up over it and keep his altitude. Now if only he could get comfortable.

"Would you mind getting your ammo pouch out of my kidney?" he asked plaintively.

"I am so going to kill you," she hissed and he could just imagine how red her face was. "I'm going to pull your head off and stick it on a pike and do the Macarena around it."

"You're the one who pointed out that we didn't have any money for train tickets," he said.

"I…"

"You're the one who said, 'hey, Chrno, why don't we fly? You can carry my fat ass and all our kit across the country while I try real hard to yank you into a tree. Won't that be fun?'"

"WHAT WAS THAT ABOUT MY ASS??"

Chrno sighed. He was tired, his entire body was sore, his back was killing him, his ears hurt from her shrieking, and he was feeling wholly unappreciated. His natural demonic submission to his liege, in this case Rosette, was at definite low ebb as well. It was a good sign he was recovering from everything he'd been through in the last months though. They hadn't had a good fight in ages.

That didn't mean he was particularly enjoying this one. Rosette was far too close to his sensitive ears for that.

"STOP SCREAMING!" he bellowed as she continued with her high-pitched tirade. "You're hurting me!" She huffed, going into a sulk, and they were quiet for a while, Chrno following the thermal currents far above the ground. Clouds were starting to pass by underneath them and he felt Rosette relax somewhat, obviously more comfortable with the illusion of solid ground underneath her. He hadn't realized she'd be so afraid of heights. They'd flown together before, but never for long periods of time, and never in the daytime.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you," he relented as last. "I'm just tired."

She was silent for a moment before he felt her shift on his back and her warm breath blew on his neck. "Do you want to stop for a while?" she asked. "I can give you a back massage."

That sounded wonderful. "I can't," he said regretfully. "The ground's too flat here. I don't know that I'd be able to get airborne again. Not until we get somewhere with some cliffs."

"How far is that?" she asked doubtfully.

"I'm not sure. I'll have to fly at least for today and into tomorrow, if not the next day. I hope you went to the bathroom before we left," he smiled.

"You didn't tell me you'd have to fly that long! Why are you doing this?"

"Because you asked me to," he said wearily.

Rosette was quiet for a long time and finally tugged her hand free of his grip. She was gentle, so he let her, and she stroked his ear gently. He sighed, his eyes lidding mostly closed.

"I didn't mean for you to have to fly for so long," she told him softly. "You know you don't have to do everything I say."

"I didn't-" he started to say and paused. "I guess I did."

She poked him gently in the back of the head. "Idiot, you're not my servant."

Most of the time, she acted like he was, but Chrno knew he wasn't. It was just easier to go along with her ideas. "I can make it," he assured her doubtfully. "The higher we are, the less time it takes."

"Oh." Her arm returned to his and he renewed his grasp on it. "I have an idea. You need height to take off, so we'll look for cities and take a break in them. You can take off from a skyscraper, just like we did in New York."

"That would be dangerous," he pointed out. "What if someone saw us?"

"So? We can outrun anyone. And I don't want you cramping up or something. You can't fight if you're exhausted."

She had a point. Considering where they were going, they needed him in top form. "All right. Do you have the map handy?"

"Sure, yeah. Um, let me..." She took her arm back and he heard her searching through her pockets. A moment later, he heard the rattly sound of paper being unfolded in the wind. "Okay, we're about…" The rattly sound vanished. "Applesauce!"

Chrno closed his eyes. "You dropped the map, didn't you?"

"It's not my fault!"

---000---

It was growing dark in Pennsylvania, or maybe in Idaho, as they reached the city. Chrno was becoming very glad of Rosette's suggestion. At one time, he could have made the journey, but that was when he had his horns and he was always in his demon form. He was out of shape for this and the extra weight really was dragging him down. He wouldn't be able to make it all the way to Texas like he planned. He wasn't sure he'd make it all the way to downtown.

He forced himself to, rejecting the short buildings on the outskirts. He needed height, real height to take off, and for that he needed a tall building. Luckily, though the city they'd reached was built at the junction of two cold rivers, the city itself supplied enough heat to keep him airborne while the sun went down. Rosette dozing on his back, he laboured through the air, using more astral than he would have liked to force his way to the top of the tallest building he could see in the downtown core. He heard people shouting distantly from the ground, easily seeing his glowing shape in the darkness, but he was too tired to care. He had to land.

He did, roughly, and dropped to his hands and knees, immediately shifting back into the form of a twelve-year-old boy. Immediately flattened under the weight of Rosette and their gear, he decided he was comfortable enough and passed out.

Rosette yanked her head up, blinking sleep out of her eyes, and looked around. She'd fallen asleep and missed their arrival in the city. She looked around at the gravel covered rooftop and down underneath her at the sleeping boy.

"Chrno?" she queried, but he was making that little kitten snore of his that meant he wouldn't be waking up for a while. Rosette smiled and rolled off of him, pushing the pack off of her back. It had been just as heavy for her as it was for Chrno and she was glad to get it off.

"And you thought you could fly all the way to Texas," she smirked at the sleeping demon. Standing up, she went to look over the edge of the building. It was a big one, some sort of office building, and she looked down to see people gathering on the sidewalk below, illuminated by street lamps. As she stood there, police cars pulled up.

"Oh, applesauce," she muttered. They must have spotted Chrno. "Hey, we got to get out of here!" She hurried back to her lover, but he'd curled himself into a little ball and was still snoring. He would have been adorable if they weren't in such danger. She still had her guns, but no ammo, and Chrno didn't look like he could fight a mouse right now.

Rosette hurried back to the edge of the building and looked down. The police had now been joined by several cars with blue suited men and women in them. "Ah, crap." Wherever they were, this city had a chapter of the Holy Order of Magdalene in it. "Why us? Chrno!" She ran to him, shaking him, but he ignored her. "Wake up! You have to wake up!" Her face darkened. "Sister Kate is here."

His head snapped up. "What? Where?"

Rosette rolled her eyes and went to grab the pack. "She's not here, but the local Order is. We have to go." She hurried to listen at the rooftop door as Chrno climbed to his feet, looking like he was in real pain. "Can you fly?"

"Not unless you want to do a swan dive into the pavement. I'm almost out of astral and I need to sleep." He looked sheepish. "I'm sorry, Rosette. I really thought I could fly farther."

"Don't worry about it." She listened at the door and looked back at him. Chrno only took on his child form now when he was really tired. He didn't like her thinking of him as a child. Rosette bit her lip and hurried back to his side. Tilting his head up, she gave him a quick kiss, breathing astral into his mouth, and took his hand. "Come on." She led him back to the door and listened. Still nothing from the other side, so she tried the handle. It was locked. Standing back, she kicked the door in with a crash.

"Subtle," Chrno commented.

"Shut up. You want to be caught here?" They were both demons now. She really didn't want people armed with Sacreds firing at them.

They hurried through the door and down the stairs it led to. That brought them to another door that let into the inside corridor of the building. All of the lights were out and it reminded Rosette of the training maze back in New York as she crept down the hallway, Chrno at her back. The pack was heavy on her shoulders, but he was tired enough without carrying it. She'd give him more astral later, when they didn't have to worry about interruptions and he could renew her own legion levels. Rosette blushed and started towards the elevator.

The arrow showing what floor the car was on was turning, heading for the top floor. "Ah, crap," Rosette grumbled and bolted down the hallway, nearly pulling Chrno off his feet. He scrambled after her, his red coat billowing behind him. They ran down the hall, testing doors, and ran into one marked with an accountant's name as the elevator chimed and the door opened.

Both of them held their breath, listening to the sound of three people coming out of the elevator car. They sounded young, too young to Rosette but just about her age to Chrno. Apprentices, he thought. They sent apprentices after them. Given the amount of destruction Rosette used to hand out, he wasn't sure that was such a good thing.

The apprentices stomped around the hall for a minute, trying to decide what the best thing to do was, and headed off finally for the stairs to the roof. Once they were gone, Rosette opened the door and peered out. "They're gone," she whispered and hurried back out to the elevator. The doors had closed again and she poked the button to summon it.

"Do we really want to be taking the elevator?" Chrno asked her. "There could be a dozen militia waiting for us downstairs."

He had a point. Rosette frowned and checked the map on the wall beside it. "There's the stairs," she pointed. "We'll go that way." Grabbing his hand again, she led him through the dark towards it, both of them better able to see in the darkness with their slitted eyes. Chrno let her, muffling a yawn. Even in a form without wings, he could feel how badly they ached. He was going to be in pain in the morning. This trip of theirs was going to take a lot longer than they'd originally planned. Then again, Rosette's original plan for him to teleport them there instantly, the same way Aion transported around the country. But her tiny little horns couldn't gather enough energy for them to do that. He couldn't even teleport into the next room.

Tiptoeing with exaggerated caution, Rosette crept up to the corner and turned around it, coming face to face with the nun who'd been doing the same thing from the other side. Both of them stared at each other and screamed, Rosette at the girl's gun, the girl at Rosette's small yet obvious horns. Then Rosette punched her in the nose, and the nun's shot went wide, arcing over Chrno's head as he cringed.

"Rosette! Run!" he shouted. He could hear the other two nuns running back towards them.

So could Rosette. She grabbed the girl's gun and bolted back the way they came, both of them nearly tripping over each other as they raced back past the elevator and down the other corridor, into the centre of the building. Footsteps sounded behind them, echoing so that they couldn't be sure how many people were chasing them.

"Do you know where you're going?" Chrno shouted.

"Away!" she answered.

"They're over there," they both heard. "I can hear them!"

"Applesauce," Rosette growled and bolted around another corner, into a wide open space designed to hold a multitude of desks.

Distantly, as he followed her, Chrno heard another sound, a humming that was familiar to him. His mind flashed onto an image of a little silver-haired girl, hurrying after him with a bunch of crosses in her arms.

"Rosette!" he shrieked. "Cross barrier!"

She looked back at him, startled, and an instant later she slammed full force into a glowing wall that appeared in front of her. Chrno skidded to a halt behind her, horrified. Apprentices or not, those nuns had managed to get a cross barrier up as effectively as Azmaria used to. They were both trapped.

Rosette howled in outrage, beating on the barrier. Chrno just pressed his back to hers, staring at the three shapes that came into the room. One of them flipped on the lights and Rosette whirled, wincing.

The oldest of the three couldn't have been more than seventeen, the youngest fourteen. All three girls wore blue dresses and headdresses. The youngest one had a bloody nose.

Very deliberately, Chrno put himself between Rosette and them.

"Get out of my way," she groused, shoving him forcibly to one side, and stalked to the edge of the barrier closest to them. "You open this thing right now!" she ordered.

The middle girl looked confused, the youngest busy with her nose. The oldest glared back. "I don't take orders from demons."

Rosette ground her teeth together and Chrno stepped up beside them. "What are you going to do with us?" he asked softly. "We didn't do anything."

"Yeah!" Rosette chorused. "We didn't do anything!"

"Demons are always up to something," the nun recited smugly.

The second nun, the confused looking one, turned to her elder. "Sister Karen?" she said slowly. "I recognize them. They were in the flyer the New York branch sent us. Remember?" She pointed at Chrno. "He raped her and turned her into a demon. She's really a militia fighter like us."

Chrno buried his face in his hands. He'd managed to forget that Sister Kate thought that.

Rosette apparently _had_ forgotten. "WHAT?? WHO SAID HE RAPED ME??"

"The New York office," the second nun intoned gently. "They said you were his thrall and anyone who found you was to bring you back."

"I was not raped!" Rosette screamed. "I wanted him! Kate just can't get that idea through her head 'cause she's never been laid!"

"You lie," the girl said. "Like all demons. He's making you think this."

Rosette's face was purple, she was so angry. "Here's what I think of that," she grated and grabbed Chrno. Startled, he was spun around and pulled against her, her lips locked over his. The nuns shrieked.

She breathed astral into him, far more than the tiny bit she'd given him on the roof. This was a full breathing, done to bring him to full power, but it looked like a passionate kiss and did all sorts of interesting things to his lower anatomy. Lust rose in him as he changed shape, shifting into his adult form, suddenly a head taller than her with his long hair falling to frame her upturned face. He reached up to put his hands on her cheeks and let himself shift further. Sore wings stretched out, beating slowly as his whip tail came around to wrap around her, the spiked end resting gently between her breasts. He'd nearly forgotten about the staring nuns when she broke the kiss and pulled back enough to look at him with smoky eyes.

"The window," she whispered.

An instant later, she ducked under his wing, her stolen gun in her hand, and shot one of the crosses that formed the barrier, the Sacred easily passing through the wall. The nuns screamed as the cage dropped and Chrno picked his lover up, leaping for the large windows set in the far wall. Twisting in his embrace, Rosette shot them out and he dove through them, wings spreading.

They hurt terribly. Chrno ignored the pain, trying to balance the weight in his arms, complete with pack, in the terrible currents caused by the buildings. They threatened to throw him into the side of the building they'd escaped from and he canted nearly to the point of rolling over in order to get enough distance from it. That brought him nearly into the buildings on the other side of the street and he wrenched his wings around to turn. They were losing altitude fast though, his wings too sluggish and the weight too much, too far forward for him to compensate. He pulled his legs around and landed hard on top of the hood of one of the Order's cars, crumpling the metal under his feet and probably destroying the suspension.

"Run for it," he gasped. "I can't fly."

They bolted, Chrno shifting back to his child form. People were yelling, militia who didn't go into the building rallying with the police to cut them off, but they both ducked into the gathered crowds, just like they'd always hated demons to do when they were the ones hunting them down. Hands clasped, they sprinted through them and out the other side, racing down an alleyway.

"How long before they get a car, you think?" Chrno gasped.

An engine roared behind them. "Not soon enough."

They raced down the ally and out into the street on the far side, nearly getting hit by a bus in the process. It screeched to a halt and they kept running, Chrno almost afraid to keep his eyes open. Rosette still had a death grip on his hand though and she towed him after her. He didn't resist. The thought of getting separated from her in a city they didn't know was horrific.

A militia car raced out of the ally they'd left, two armed men in it. One of them leaned out the passenger window, firing, and Rosette grunted before falling onto her front.

Chrno turned, howling. In demon form again in an instant, he leaped in front of the car before it could stop and caught it, his feet digging into the pavement as its front end crumpled around him. Raging, he dug his claws into the front of the vehicle and heaved, lifting the entire thing over his head. The men rolled out through the open doors and he threw it, sending it flying into the wall above the alley they'd left. It hit and exploded, fire and metal going everywhere. Chrno pounced on the man who'd shot his lover, grabbing him by the front of his uniform while his tail wrapped around the second man's neck behind him.

"What have you done?" he shrieked.

"Chrno!" Rosette gasped. "I'm okay! Let them go!" She grabbed his arm, her eyes frightened. "They hit the pack, not me. I'm all right."

Relief flooded through him. "I thought they'd killed you," he mourned and shoved the man away so hard he skidded on his fanny halfway across the street. The second man he tossed after him, letting him land on the first to pad his impact. Shifting back to a boy, he hugged her tightly, face pressed against her breasts. "I thought you were dead."

"No chance. I've got too much to do. Come on." Taking his hand again, she led him further into the city, looking for somewhere they could rest.

---000---

"We should have thought of this ages ago. It's way better than those abandoned buildings."

Lying on his back on a huge feather bed, Chrno stretched languidly, smiling up through his eyelashes at his lover. She knelt astride him, her bare breasts lovely in the dawn light that came through the window.

She smirked, moving against him gently. "Well, since we're considered bad guys no matter what we do, so what?" She raised and lowered herself. "Besides, you needed the rest."

Chrno hissed, head tilting back against the soft pillows. He didn't really get all that much rest before she decided to wake him, but he wasn't complaining. Her muscles were pressing against him in all sorts of wonderful ways and he could feel her psyche embracing his mind as well, making it decidedly hard to think. "Hrm," he managed, resting his hands on her knees. She just smirked again and renewed her pace, making him pant.

They'd found a hotel at last, a nice, high class establishment on the waterfront that they never would have been able to afford normally. One of its rooms wasn't rented out for the night though and a window on the tenth floor wasn't terribly hard to open once you reached it. Now they had access to a shower, a very nice bed, a radio, and to keep their privacy, the door was locked and had a large wardrobe shoved in front of it. They'd be gone before the maids came in to tidy in the morning though.

Rosette chuckled, enjoying her control over him, and Chrno just closed his eyes and relaxed, letting her do whatever she wanted to him. Maybe later they could rethink their travel plans, come up with something better than they were doing now. It was just too obvious, though he didn't know where they were going to get money for train tickets. They couldn't afford for their enemies to figure out where they were headed though, not with Azmaria and Joshua's lives riding on their success. Aion had them both, he had to, and the only place Chrno could think to start looking for them was Eden. It hadn't been an option before, but with Rosette no longer bound by the contract, they could go there. It wouldn't be easy, but it would be even harder if Aion guessed they were coming.

He turned his face into the pillow, whimpering as Rosette continued her efforts, content just to let her. She reached something deep inside him and he gasped suddenly, back arching. She chuckled. "Whatever happened to demonic stamina?"

"I'm tired," he pouted and pulled her down beside him. She let him and cuddled against his shoulder, her arm around him. "How long do you think we have until the maids try to get in?"

"I don't know," she yawned. "Maybe until ten?"

"Good." She started to snore. Chrno kissed her forehead and closed his own eyes. A moment later, they were both asleep.

**THE END**

_Yes, this is to be continued…_


	7. Dialogue

**DIALOGUE**

By Hydraa

_This takes place after "Voyage". Someone pointed out that I really haven't resolved the whole issue with Kate. I didn't see great battles and saving of lives and all as being something that would work to impress her with how Rosette and Chrno are still good. Perhaps a slower epiphany would be more effective instead._

---000---S

A cup of tea at her elbow and pile of work to be done beyond it, Sister Kate sat at her desk and flipped slowly through a folder. It was thin and mostly filled with photographs, but she'd spent a long time already going through it.

The first photograph was taken out a train window, showing a blurry, winged shape flying alongside the train. The quality was poor, but she could recognize Chrno and Rosette well enough. The second showed the demon landing on a car's hood in downtown Pittsburgh, Rosette cradled in his arms. The third was at a distance, half distorted by the light of an explosion as he hugged Rosette in his boy form, both of them backlit by a fire he'd started.

The militia team in Pittsburgh had gone in at the sighting of a demon without any idea of what they were dealing with. From what Kate had read, one very clever young nun had recognized the two, but they still hadn't been able to deal with them. Both escaped. The rest of the file contained the reports of the three nuns and the ground team. There were some cuts and bruises, a broken nose, and some broken limbs, but otherwise the team had no casualties. Thank God they'd avoided any fatalities.

She turned to the middle of the nuns' report. They'd caught the two in a cross barrier, but Rosette shot out one of the crosses with a stolen gun and they escaped. The nun who lost her weapon hadn't tried to hide her mistake at all. Kate appreciated that, but she wished she hadn't been so careless. If she hadn't let Rosette get her gun, she might be back at the Order right now.

As if anyone could stop Rosette from getting her hands on a weapon.

Kate sighed and took a sip of tea. The conversation they'd had with Rosette while she was in the circle was what disturbed her the most. Sister Jessica had accused Chrno of raping Rosette and her reaction had been extreme. She'd denied it and then kissed her demon, using him as a distraction to target the cross.

Even now, months after Rosette became a demon herself, Kate wondered how much of the girl was left. From what she could read in this report, it looked like all of her, but how could that be? She wasn't human any longer. Or was she? Was her soul still intact?

Kate sighed again and rubbed her throbbing temples. This was the stuff theologians were supposed to debate over, not a single nun who had an entire order to run and more than one child to find. Rosette wasn't the only one missing. There was still Joshua Christopher and Azmaria Hendric, along with several other children who had been identified as potential apostles.

Why were Rosette and Chrno in Pittsburgh of all places? Where were they going? Were they involved? She couldn't believe it. Corrupt though she believed Chrno to be, she couldn't see Rosette doing anything to harm innocent children, especially her brother, no matter what had been done to her.

Once, she would have sent Father Remington to investigate, but he was still recovering from the broken leg Rosette gave him when she threw him out that window. She grimaced. Much as she didn't like to leave, she'd have to investigate herself. Rosette was her responsibility and far too dangerous for others to deal with. She wasn't sure how _she'd_ deal with her.

Her phone rang, the buzzer discordant and shrill. Kate picked up the receiver and put it to her ear.

"Sister Kate."

_"You know, you're a real bitch."_

Kate started, recognizing that voice immediately. "Rosette??"

_"Yeah. Who else calls you a bitch?"_

No one indeed. Kate pursed her lips, trying to remain calm. Rosette could get her flying into a rage with almost no effort. This time, she suspected the girl might just want her to. "Why are you in Pittsburgh, Rosette?"

_"You heard about that already? Sheesh. Don't bother sending anyone after us. We've left already."_

So much for going after her. She'd have to trace the call instead and find out where they'd gone.

_"Don't trace this call either,"_ Rosette said, as if reading her mind. _"If you do, I'll never call back."_

So much for that idea as well. Rosette was impulsive, but she'd rarely been stupid. "Are you planning on calling back?"

_"Maybe. I don't know. That depends on you. We're looking for Azmaria."_

Kate blinked. "You know she's been kidnapped?"

_"Yeah. Chrno saw an ad asking if anyone had seen her. We would have been looking for her weeks ago, but _someone_ stuck him in a cell and he forgot about it until a few days ago. Dumb demon. When did she disappear?"_

"The same day you did," Kate told her honestly.

Rosette was quiet for a moment. _"We didn't have anything to do with that."_

Kate sighed. "I believe you," she agreed. No matter what, she trusted that.

"_Good. So tell me what happened."_

Kate's eyebrows rose. "You want me to give you intel?"

_"Yeah, why not? We're looking for her too. If you tell me what you know, we might find her faster."_

"You're a demon now, Rosette," Kate told her dryly. "Why should I tell you anything?"

_"Bitch. You want Aion to have her? He has my brother too. You promised you'd help me find him."_

"That's before you let a demon rape you and turn you into a monster."

Rosette's voice was rising. _You're not just a bitch, you're a moron. The word 'let' doesn't go with the word 'rape'. He didn't rape me. I told your idiots that. He saved my life."_

Kate closed her eyes. Saved her life yes, but her soul? "Rosette…"

_"Don't you Rosette me!" _She was screaming now. _"He's sweet and he's kind and he's done nothing but good for the Order! It's not HIS fault where he was born! Did you know he thought _he_ was going to die when he had sex with me?!"_

Kate blinked. "What?"

_"That's how demons reproduce. They had this crazy bitch queen thing who'd kill them during sex. Chrno thought he'd be killed when he was with me. He did it anyway to save me!"_

Kate leaned back in her chair. "I notice he's still alive," she pointed out dryly.

_"Yeah, well, I'm not a bitch. Not like some people."_

Kate closed her eyes, trying to control her temper. The girl drove her to madness. "Chrno's intentions aren't the issue here."

_"Yeah. The issue is Azmaria and Joshua. What do you know?"_

Nothing, Kate didn't want to say. "What will you give me in return for the information?" she asked instead, wondering if she could get Rosette back to the Order somehow.

_"Bitch," _the girl said and hung up.

Slowly, Kate hung the receiver back up, realizing only after she'd done so that her hand hurt from clenching it so tightly. Standing, she made her way stiffly to the door and looked out at her secretary.

"A call just came to my line," she growled. "Trace it."

---000---

They were in Wheeling, a town in Ohio. Kate studied the report and wondered what they were doing. They had to be going somewhere, but she didn't have enough information yet to guess where. It had been two days since they were cornered in Pittsburgh and she debated whether to send that city's militia after them again. No, as far as they were concerned, they had a score to settle. She didn't want that.

Her phone rang. Kate looked at it, her heart sinking, and picked it up.

"Yes?"

_"Collect call from a Rosette Christopher,"_ she heard. _"Will you accept the charges?"_

Her heart jumped. "Yes!"

_"Good,"_ she heard Rosette say a moment later. _ "I really didn't want to pay for this. We're broke."_

"You didn't phone collect last time," Kate pointed out.

_"Yeah, well," _She sounded sheepish. _"The hotel room we crashed in had a phone. Since we didn't have to pay for it, I figured I'd call."_

Kate's forehead began to throb. "You broke into a hotel??"

_"Well, yeah, what do you expect us to do? Sleep in an alley and get mugged or something? We don't have any money. Why don't you send us some cash? Then we won't have to commit crimes or nothing."_

Dimly, Kate wondered when she'd wandered into a bad pulp story. "You actually want me to send you money."

_"Why not? The church is supposed to engage in charity, isn't it?"_

Kate buried her face in her hand. They were actually breaking and entering. "Fine," she heard herself saying. "Where do I send it?"

_"Yes? You said yes?? Hey, Chrno, she said yes!.. No, it's not a trap… because I'd know if it was a trap!... It's not a trap, is it?" _She sounded suspicious.

"No," Kate told her wearily. Maybe it would be later, once her head didn't hurt quite so much and she could think clearly.

_"That's jake!" _Rosette crowed. _"Send it to General Delivery in Columbus, Ohio. We'll get it there. And don't tell the militia about us! Oh, thanks,"_ she added and hung up.

Kate replaced the receiver and put her head on the desk, deciding to wait a while before she had the call traced and arranged for the money to be delivered. It was turning into a very long day.

---000---

The 'not-quite-extortion' call had come from Zanesville, halfway between Wheeling and Columbus. Kate wasn't sure what could fascinate the two so much about Ohio, so they had to be on their way somewhere else. She tracked the calls, but otherwise did nothing else. She couldn't go after them herself. Rosette would get suspicious if she wasn't there to take her calls.

Instead, regretting every moment of it, she sent Remington, with the Elder to help the injured man out. Both had orders to go to Columbus and call her several times a day, so she could give them further directions. Neither of them could fight, but it wasn't a fight she was looking for. She wanted someone to talk to Rosette.

It was obvious, given the number of times she'd called, that the girl wanted to as well.

Hoping that she wasn't making a mistake, the nun confined herself to her office even more than usual, hoping for a call. Rosette didn't contact her though, and Remington and the Elder couldn't from their train. By the time midnight rolled around the day after the Zanesville call, she was so tired that she had to drag herself to her room and go to sleep.

Sometime later, when she was deeply asleep and dreaming about Saturday pie of all things, a knock came at her door. Kate came awake instantly, reaching for her glasses. "Yes?"

"Sister Kate," the nun on night watch said through the door. "Sister Rosette is calling collect. You asked to be woken."

"Yes, thank you." Hurriedly, she grabbed her robe and all but ran to her office.

"Rosette?" she gasped, grabbing the phone.

_"Gee, were you running? I didn't wake you did I?" _Rosette sounded giddy._ "You'll never guess. I can smell demons."_

"What?" Kate stammered, completely unbalanced.

_"Well, not really 'smell'. More like my horns get all itchy. Chrno says that happens when demons get close to each other. But I sensed this demon that was summoned by this really stupid guy who wanted to get back at his girlfriend for dumping him, only she wasn't his girlfriend, he just pretended she was. Only Chrno sensed it first, but I did sense it too and it was really jake."_

Kate felt her headache coming back. "Rosette, is there a point to this story?"

_"Oh. Sorry. We followed the itch and we found the demon getting ready to attack the girlfriend. So we killed it."_ She paused. _"You know, it's a whole lot messier when you don't have any bullets. I ran out. Can you send more?"_

Kate's mouth opened and closed like a fish. _"Sister Kate? Are you there? I would really like more ammunition. Please? Pretty please? Thank you for the money and I would have called sooner, but we smelled the demon when we were looking for a phone and we didn't want to risk anyone getting hurt."_

Kate sat on the edge of the desk, feeling old. "All right. Where do you want them sent?"

_"Awesome! Did I ever tell you how jake you are?"_

---000---

The fight was in Columbus. Kate looked at the telegraph report from the local Order when the not-a-girlfriend ran to them after the battle. She'd then led them to the man who raised the demon. The demon itself was nothing but ash, though the destruction caused in taking it down was worse than what Rosette used to engage in when she was in the Order. Kate wouldn't have believed she'd be _more_ destructive without guns.

The ammunition was supposed to be shipped to Cincinnati, again to General Delivery. The money could be wired overnight, but this would take a few days, even if she sent it from Pittsburgh. Granted, if she asked the Cincinnati Order to supply it, it would be there immediately, but she didn't want them to know about Rosette and she wanted to give Remington and the Elder a chance to catch up.

"She'll be in Cincinnati," she told the Father. "I'm sending her a box of Sacreds."

_"Really?" _Father Remington sounded amused, even through the static on the line. _"You're getting soft if you're sending weaponry to a demon."_

Kate frowned, her vein starting up again. "She's more deadly without it."

_"Probably. Do you know where they're staying?"_

"No. She has enough money for a hotel room though." She had enough for two, actually, though Kate tried really hard not to think about whether she'd _get_ two. "She'll have to wait for the shipment to arrive."

_"We should beat it by a few days. We've got a pretty good head start. Hopefully she doesn't get upset when she sees us."_

"Don't scare her, Remington."

_"I'm on crutches with a cast up to my hip and in the company of an old man who looks up girls' skirts. I don't think I can scare anyone."_

"Are you alright?" Kate asked guiltily. She regretted sending him, but there was no one else Rosette would even look at.

_"I'm sore, but I'm fine. The painkillers are good. Besides, I like to be doing something. I'd have been angry if you didn't send me."_

Kate smiled. "That's good to hear. I should get off the line, in case she calls."

_"Okay. It's bizarre, but she seems to trust you."_

"I'll take what gifts God can give me, Remington. Keep safe."

_"You too. Resist the urge to yell at the girl. She's trying to help."_

Kate hung up and leaned her chin on her hand, staring at the phone with a patient sigh.

---000---

_"Have you heard anything about Azmaria yet?"_

Kate stared out the window, the phone held to her ear. It was a beautiful day outside and she wondered what it was like in Cincinatti. "No. All of our operatives are watching, but Aion's keeping a very low profile. He doesn't want us finding him."

_"Do you think he's got everything he wants?"_

She watched a trio of nuns cross the grass carrying rakes. "I think if he did, we'd know about it."

_"Yeah. Chrno thinks the same. He says Aion wants to make heaven and hell swap places. I guess we'd notice that."_

Kate smiled slightly. "Undoubtedly."

_"Yeah." _The girl sighed. _"I can't stand that guy. He's not going to get away with what he did to Joshua and Azmaria. Hopefully we find him soon."_

Kate turned back into the room. "Do you have any leads?" She hadn't asked that before.

_"Maybe. If Eden's still where it used to be."_

"Eden?"

_"Where the Sinners lived when they took Mary Magdalene. Chrno says they might have taken them there. He couldn't get to it before, when we had the contract, but he can get there now. That's where we're going."_

Kate's mouth went dry. She hadn't heard the name 'Eden' used that way before, but she knew what place they spoke of. A floating mountain that Father Remington and a young Elder tracked decades ago, after Chrno the Sinner kidnapped Saint Magdalene. They'd arrived just in time to see Mary fall from that mountain, along with Chrno. They reached them just in time to see her dead.

_"He doesn't think they did,"_ she continued. _"There are demons called Pursuers who are dedicated to killing the Sinners because they killed Pandemonium. She's the demon who lays all the eggs and kills her mates and everything. It's weird to think that Chrno hatched out of an egg and that his dad was his brother. Eww. That's just gross. But the Pursuers are really powerful and human-like, like Chrno is, and they'd know about Eden by now. But there might be a clue there and we can't think of anything better to try. That's why I was hoping you knew something."_

In twenty years of service, Kate had never learned so much at one time about demons that wasn't clouded in supposition and belief. "Chrno's taught you a lot about demons," she said slowly.

_"Yeah, well, I guess I really need to know now. I don't think I can tell you much else. He'd be upset."_

"He's not there now?" Kate asked softly.

_"Nope. He doesn't like me calling you. I think he's scared of you. You were pretty mean to him, even before we left."_

Kate was silent for a moment, surprised at the fact that she was disturbed at all about a demon's feelings. "I didn't mean for him to be afraid of me."

_"Well, he never knew what you did to him and you were always glaring. It took a lot for us to break those Oaths you put on him. Oh, we broke the Oaths, by the way. That was a horrible thing to do, you know."_

"I was just trying…"

_"Yeah, yeah. You were just trying to protect everyone. Save it. You're just lucky Chrno's such a nice guy or you'd have really made him hate humans. Hey, gotta go. He's back." _The phone clicked off.

Kate hung it up, her brow tense. She sat there for a long time after that conversation, thinking.

---000---

Remington called her next, from the train station in Cincinnati. _"We're here, Kate. We'll head to the post office next and wait for Rosette. Hopefully she won't just see us and run."_

He sounded tired. "She won't," Kate told him. "You've always been her confidant."

_"But I captured Chrno,"_ he protested sadly. _"I don't know that they'll forgive me for that. I really don't think the Elder is very popular with them right now either."_

"Do you think you shouldn't have gone?"

_"No. I want to apologize to them, and at least I can be honest with them this time."_

Kate looked down at her desk. "I never asked you to be dishonest. Just to protect her."

_"Yet here I am, sent to talk to her. Are you having a change of heart, Kate?"_

She flushed. "Perhaps just a change of perspective."

_"Oh?"_

Kate put a hand to her crucifix. "She hasn't changed, Remington. Physically yes, but mentally? She's still fighting to help other people. If anything, she's calmer than she ever has been before."

_"Of course she is. She's in love."_

"With a demon."

_"With someone you disapprove of. You just don't think he's good enough for her. If you'd really thought Chrno was evil, you never would have let him into the Order, even with the Oaths you made him swear. Stop trying to be her mother."_

"I…" Kate blushed. "Have I been doing that?"

_"With good intentions, but yes. Rosette doesn't need a mother. Or maybe she does. Maybe that's why she keeps calling. Did you ever ask her?"_

"No."

_"Maybe you should. She still has a soul, Kate. She'd never be able to fake it so well if she didn't. She wouldn't even try." _He paused. _"I have to go. Elder just spotted some schoolgirls." _He hung up.

---000---

Late the next day, the phone rang. Kate had spent the hours until then praying, thinking, trying to gain perspective. Her dialogue with Rosette, over the phone where they couldn't see each other's anger and get angry themselves, had made it impossible for her not to become alert to what was there. Remington was right. Rosette had a demon's body, but her soul was still her own. She hadn't lost that in her sin with Chrno. Kate would never accept the filth she'd done with him easily, but it hadn't harmed her spirit. She still cared, she still fought, and she was still determined to do what was right.

Kate would rather she didn't do it with a demon at her side, but she'd always thought that. She didn't think she'd ever be happy that the demon was now in Rosette's bed, but Rosette was, and she hadn't forgotten her place with God.

Quickly, Kate answered the phone and accepted the charges. "Rosette?"

There was silence for a long minute. "Rosette?"

_"Why the hell did you send Remington and the Elder after us?" _the girl grated at last.

Kate's heart jumped into her throat. "Are they all right?"

_"You have to ask me that?? What do you think I am? Oh, right, I forgot. I'm a monster. Of course they're all right. I'd never hurt Father Remington. I want to shove the Elder's head up his own ass though."_

Kate blinked, baffled. "What happened?"

_"He grabbed my crotch!" _the girl shouted. She sounded near tears. _"And said that since I was letting Chrno have me, I should let him have a taste! I'm not some sort of whore!"_

Kate's hand flew up to her mouth, horrified. She'd known the Elder was perverted, but he'd been at the Order for years and usually the worst he restricted himself to was stealing girls' underwear and looking up their skirts.

_"I could have killed him!" _she went on. _"Chrno nearly did kill him! He went demon right in the post office! Remington was yelling, I was yelling! The police showed up and they were shooting at us! Chrno barely got me and Remington out."_

"And the Elder?" Kate whispered.

_"He left that old jerk there. I hope they throw him in a jail cell and never let him out! Why did you _send_ him??"_

"He was supposed to help Remington because of his broken leg," Kate answered quickly. "Oh, Rosette, I am so sorry!" That was the last straw. She didn't care how good the Elder was at making weapons. The cost was too high. The _demon_ had better self-control than him. She closed her eyes. The demon was less evil. "I am so sorry."

_"Why did you send Remington?"_ Rosette asked quietly.

"To talk to you. To make sure you were all right." Kate stared down at her desk. "Didn't he tell you?"

_"He's unconscious. The flight was really hard on him and I think we made his leg worse. I didn't mean to break it in the first place."_

"It's all right," Kate sighed. "You were only defending yourself." She had been. If she could defend herself against an old man trying to assault her, she could defend herself against a young one ordered to bring her back to a place where she'd die. "Do you forgive me?"

_I dunno. Ask me when Chrno's calmed down. He's up on the roof hissing. I've never seen him like that. I think if he sees the Elder again, he'll kill him."_

"He won't," she promised. "What about Remington?"

_"We'll have to take care of him until he can travel, I guess. I don't trust the local Order enough to take him there. We'll wait until he's okay enough to get there himself, so I guess he'll get lots of time to talk to us. You're really slowing us down, you know that?"_

"I didn't intend to," Kate admitted. She paused, remembering what Remington had said. "Rosette, will you tell me why you called me all these times?"

_"Huh? I wanted money."_

"I mean other than that," she said dryly.

_"Oh. Uh. Well. I kinda, um, I kind of miss it there. All my friends and the free food and all. Not the chores! Or the prayers. They were okay, but ugh. Did we have to do them so early in the morning?" _She paused and Kate could almost imagine her shuffling her feet. _"And I didn't want you thinking bad of me, or of Chrno. He doesn't deserve it."_

Kate smiled slightly. "I suppose not. Were there any other reasons?"

_"Why should there be?"_

She shrugged. "I never imagined you cared what I thought before."

_"Right. Well, maybe I'm a little scared. I always knew before that I was going to die. I could just look at the watch and I'd know. But now… I don't have to die and I'm scared that I'm going to. I can tell that Chrno is afraid of going to Eden, which really scares me, but it's the only way to find out what happened to Joshua… unless you found out something."_

Kate pressed a hand against her lips, wishing that she did know something, that she could say anything to the girl that would reassure her, or show her a different path to take. "I have nothing for you, Rosette," she admitted finally. "I wish to God I did. We don't know where to look for Aion or the other Sinners."

_"Oh. I… I'll call you later."_

She hung up and Kate bowed her head.

---000---

"Rosette?"

_"This is Chrno."_

Kate was silent, her hand frozen on the desk.

_"Kate?"_

She swallowed, forcing everything she was feeling back. "Where is Rosette?"

_"Helping Father Remington into a cab. Our train is leaving in a few minutes so she won't have time to call you."_

"Does she know you're calling me?"

_"No. I'll tell her later."_

Kate licked her lips. "Where are you going?"

_"Eden. If it's still where it used to be."_

"I checked the old records. It was last seen in Texas over fifty years ago."

_"Yeah. I hope you're not planning on sending a bunch of militia out there. No matter what we run into, it'll be too much for them and I don't want Rosette getting killed trying to protect them."_

Kate looked out the window again. It was getting late, the sun setting. Soon it would be winter and already most of the leaves were off the trees. "Is that why you called me? To tell me not to interfere?"

_"To ask you. And to ask if Rosette can trust you. She seems to think she can."_

Kate took a deep breath. "She can."

_"And me?"_

"I'm still working on that."

_"Well, at least you're honest,"_ he chuckled. _"I can appreciate that."_ A train whistle sounded faintly behind him. _"I have to go."_

_"_Chrno, wait!" she cried, loathe suddenly to let him go.

_"Yes?"_

Kate clutched her crucifix. "You'll take care of Rosette, won't you?"

_"I'll die for her, Kate. In a heartbeat. You have my word on it."_ He hung up.

Kate set the phone down silently, her lips pressed together and her eyes trembling. She wiped them and leaned back in her chair, hands clasped together. Silently, she prayed for Rosette's safety, and even Chrno's, and for her own peace of mind in the wake of her realisations.

**THE END**

_What can I say? I don't like the Elder. O.o_

_This is to be continued, sometime after I get a lot more information on Pandemonium as she is in the manga. I need what, where, when, why, and how. Otherwise, I'm stuck. I also need to know about Eden. Anyone out there who can help me?_

_BTW, please review. It's my gauge on how well the stories are working._


	8. Eden

**EDEN**

By Hydraa

_This story takes place after "Dialogue"._

_When I write fanfiction, I try to stay in canon as much as possible. Yes, I make the characters go in new directions, but I try and keep the universe as intact as possible. I don't even create new characters, except in very minor roles._

_Chrno Crusade though… I've seen the anime, but not the manga, and this was intended to be based on the manga. Thanks to OtherCat1, I have a much better idea of what's really going on now, and just how off centre I've been this whole time. This story is intended to bring me back to canon as much as possible. I'm not contradicting anything I've written so far, just trying to fit it in more closely. I think I can do it. Hopefully all of you think I can as well._

_Consider this to have some spoilers for the end of the manga. Not that I 'know' how the manga ends, but this will start touching on some of the concepts that apparently weren't revealed until Volume 8. _

_This story is rated R for sometimes rough sex. _

_Reviews, as always, keep me going. Thank you to my regulars who always let me know how I'm doing. You know who you are. Without you I wouldn't bother to post._

---000---

Surrounded by silence and sand, they moved together, the demon sitting on the ground, the girl astride him and facing him. Her arms were wrapped around his neck and his hands held her hips as he pulled her up and down against him.

Rosette gasped, her eyes closed and her cheek pressed against his. It was incredibly hot out already, but a slight breeze blew against them, cooling the sweat on her skin and nipples. His body burned against hers though, heating the sweat. She didn't pull away, though. Instead she pressed closer, whimpering her pleasure.

"Rosette," Chrno gasped, shuddering against her. His mind was open to her, their souls intertwining even as their bodies were. It was gentle, loving, somehow more intimate than all the times he banged her into the ground, both of them screaming their passion into the fire. This fire was slower, sweeter.

The blonde girl opened her eyes, blinking sweat out of her eyelashes as she looked hazily at her lover. She embraced his mind as he embraced her body, and his face flushed with happiness, his expression lost in the moment. Rosette smiled and kissed his ear. He whimpered and pressed himself closer to her.

"I love you," she whispered to him.

His eyes opened, blood-red orbs meeting her blue ones. His smile lit them up like starlight and he kissed her. "My Rosette," he murmured. "You're everything to me."

The fire in her was growing and she leaned back, spine arching as she pointed her breasts at the sky, gasping for air. His tongue laved them both a moment later and she gave a quiet cry, her muscles clenching around him. He'd never been so gentle, never been so calm, and part of her wondered if he was thinking this might be the last time, even as her peak was reached and she stiffened, pleasure rocking through her. Half a moment later, he cried out as well, pulling her body back against his as he came, filling her with his seed. Gasping, they clung to each other, not caring about the sand on their wet bodies, and she felt his legions absorb through her womb, flowing into her bloodstream. After so many times together, it no longer hurt like it had the first time and she let out a breath, gently releasing his mind. Her awareness of him weakened back to the barest pulse, her ability to directly feel his love gone again.

His body she continued to hold, his face pressed to her breasts as she stroked his hair. "That was wonderful," she murmured. "Thank you."

He nuzzled against her. "I should thank you."

Rosette smiled and hugged him, loath to let go.

Eventually, they had to, the rising sun making it too uncomfortable to hold each other for long. Bitching about the heat and the sand stuck to her body, she went to find her clothes while Chrno dressed behind her, pulling a poncho on over top of his plain shirt and pants. She didn't know how he could wear that much in this heat, though the bandana around his forehead would at least keep the sweat out of his eyes. Rosette was starting to regret not picking one up herself when she bought her current blouse and cotton skirt. Her feet were sweating already in her boots.

Their camp was in the lee of a large rock, several miles outside the city they'd disembarked the train in. Everything she saw was desert, hot and uninviting. She would have preferred a hotel bed, but they'd taken so long getting here already that they hadn't wanted to waste any of the morning traveling out of the city. They should have set off already today, but Chrno had put such a concerted effort into seducing her that she'd lost track of time.

She could mostly guess why he'd done it. She was dependent on his legions to keep her alive, and he could only transfer them to her by making love. They probably never would have become lovers otherwise. She was a nun after all, or had been, and demons didn't have sex. Not without dying, that was. Given where they were going, though, he'd want her to be at full strength. She did too.

Rosette glanced at him where he was getting their gear together. She was suspicious that there might be a more subtle reason for his seduction as well. Going to Eden to look for clues on where Joshua and Azmaria were had been his idea, but he didn't want to go. Chrno was afraid one of both of them would die up there. He made love to her that morning in case he never got another chance.

Rosette bit her lip, telling herself again that he was overreacting. Eden was most likely abandoned, and even if it weren't, he was the Slayer of a Hundred Demons. There was almost nothing he couldn't take on and she was heavily armed, thanks to Sister Kate. He was just letting his negativity get to him. This was the only clue they had; they had to try.

Chrno, for all his fear, and she knew he was afraid from touching his mind every time they loved one another, had never once suggested they not go.

Of course not, she thought unbidden. She was his master. He'd do whatever she wanted. He always had.

"Are you ready?" she asked, striding to his side to collect her gun belt. She was going to carry as much ammunition as she could and hope it was enough, but she only had the two pistols. She missed all the machine guns and holy water.

He nodded shortly, hiding their gear by the lee of the rock and tying a flag so they'd be able to find it again. They wouldn't need it where they were going and the extra weight might be too much.

Rosette holstered her guns and shoved the last few clips through her belt. "Okay, come here."

He turned to her obediently and Rosette put her hands behind his head, pulling him down low enough that she could press her open mouth to his. She breathed astral into him, replenishing his energy. She'd been doing so every few hours for the last several days, letting his astral levels build higher than she could normally manage on one breath. She didn't give all of her reserves to him though. It took her time to recover her own levels with her tiny horns and he was about to use most of his. Chrno was almost as strong now as he would be with his own horns and he turned the exchange into a kiss briefly before he pulled back.

"Remember to stay close," he warned her, "and do what I say. There are a lot of dangers there."

"Right," she answered. He'd warned her of them before, but it was hard for him. He didn't have the words for what they were facing, or even for where they were going. 'High-atmospheric station' didn't mean anything to her after all. A floating island, he'd told her at last. It was a floating island and the air was going to be both thinner and colder. Rosette didn't understand how that could be, but she trusted him. She looped her arms around his neck. "Let's go."

Chrno lifted her up into his arms, holding her against him, and changed. Gone were the poncho and the plain western clothing. Now he was garbed in leather and steel, a heavy choker around his neck protecting his throat, even as his armour left most of his torso bare. Broad, bat-like wings stretched from his back and his pointed ears stabbed outwards from either side of his head. Above them, covered in thick caps, were the remains of his horns. A long tail made of bone came out the back of his head and looped around both their bodies to hold her to him.

"Hang on," he cautioned and barely waited for her nod before he leaped into the air.

He didn't use his wings for much more than steering this time. Glowing with astral instead, he rocketed straight upwards on a beam of pure power, firing them up so fast that Rosette had to bite down on a scream and was very glad of his arms and tail around her. Shocked, she clung to him and felt his arms tighten in response. Still they went up and she forced her eyes to open, looking down.

The ground was receding with dizzying speed, the whole desert seemingly laid out below them. She saw the city and the highway they'd left, as well as a convoy of familiar looking cars leaving it to enter the desert. Typical of Kate to not listen to her and send her militia in, Rosette thought with a smirk. Too late now. There was no way for them to get to where she and Chrno were going. Human technology wasn't good enough. She wasn't even sure they'd be able to see him flying in all the bright sunlight.

Twisting her head around, she looked up next. They were racing past clouds, higher than he'd ever taken her but moving too fast for her to be afraid. He was staring upwards, his hair streaming back from his face as he angled them towards a rapidly growing dot against an increasingly dark sky. The air was getting colder as well, just as he'd warned, and she wondered how it could be getting dark in the middle of the day. She wouldn't ask though. Chrno didn't need any distractions. The sooner he got them to Eden, the less astral he'd end up using. If there was someone guarding the island, he'd need every bit he could save.

The dot grew with appalling size, expanding to become what looked to her like a mountain flipped over, with its point downwards and a plate set on top of it, its edges jutting out over the sides. It was huge, bigger than the Order's grounds, and Rosette gasped as Chrno rocketed over it, arcing above the place.

The platform, or whatever it was, was made of what looked like white stone. The outer edge circled water criss-crossed by narrow bridges leading to the centre platform, where a building stood. Rosette didn't see anything moving in her brief look and then Chrno swept down, landing hard in a heavy crouch and letting her go.

Rosette scrambled to her feet, braced with her weapons ready, watching for any sort of attack while Chrno gasped behind her, getting his breath back.

Nothing moved. Other than the sound of the wind in the cold air, it was deathly silent. Rosette shifted, her boots loud on the stone, hesitated, and then looked down at her lover. "Chrno? Are you okay?"

He was kneeling on the ground, one arm braced against his leg, his other hand flat on the ground. "Yeah… just wiped… never used to be that hard… to get up here. Easier to get down… you just jump."

Rosette frowned. "Maybe if you have wings you do." Holstering one pistol, she knelt and kissed him, breathing the extra astral she'd been holding just for this into him. Chrno straightened and stood.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome." She redrew the pistol and looked around, a gun in each hand. "It looks deserted."

"Yeah. I really didn't think it would be." He sounded thoughtful and stepped past her, wings folding against his back as he made his way cautiously across the ground towards the building. It was huge and dome-shaped, covered in massive windows that glowed with the light of the sun. Rosette followed, looking around.

Was this where he'd lived? It was so strange. She stared at a clothesline hung between two poles and then down into the water. It wasn't deep. "This place is weird. I've never seen anything like it."

"We escaped from Pandemonium in it," he told her softly. "Thousands of us."

"You must have been packed in pretty tight then," she commented.

"A lot of us were still eggs or children. Only six of us made it." He was quiet a moment before sighing. "It was horrible. Eden actually crashed into your world. It took months before the repair legions could get it airborne again."

Her world? "It's your world too," she pointed out. He looked back at her and smiled. He didn't say anything more.

Actually, Rosette thought, it was the most about his coming to Earth he'd ever said to her. She looked around again and wondered just how many bad memories this place held for him. Maybe that was where his reluctance to come here started, because there definitely wasn't anyone guarding it.

The building was just as deserted as the rest of the island. Inside was a main room, a kitchen, multiple bedrooms on the second floor, and stairs down into the belly of the island. Those were the rooms she recognized. There were other rooms as well, of all shapes and sizes, with things in them she had no way of identifying. She saw circular mirrors set in the floor of a dias in the middle of one room, and another that was narrow but stories high, with a huge pillar of glass rising up through it. Chrno searched all the rooms, leaving the stairs downward for last, and, true to her word, Rosette followed him. Her curiosity made her want to go exploring, but there wasn't really all that much to see. Everything was bizarre, but it was all so Spartan. There were no personal touches at all, other than a checked tablecloth in the dining room and that clothesline. Chrno didn't seem to find anything he was looking for either.

"I guess it's deserted after all," he told her. "If anyone was here, we'd have seen them by now."

"Good," Rosette answered, though she only holstered one of her guns. "But if no one's here, do you think there'll be any information about my brother?" The thought that there wouldn't frightened her. They had no other leads at all.

"If there is, it'll likely be downstairs in the computer," he told her.

"What's a computer?"

"Ah." He touched a finger to his lips. "A thinking box?"

"How can a box think?" she asked suspiciously.

He smiled and kissed her nose. "I don't really know. That was more Shader's area. But I do know how to work it, if it's still running." He looked around. "I guess it has to be if this place is floating."

He led them down into the island, palming a square on the wall as he did that turned on lights far better than any electric light she'd ever seen. Rosette looked around in amazement as he led her into a cavernous room with a strange jar-like thing in the centre, coffins jutting out from it at angles.

Rosette was fascinated, but at the sight of the coffins, Chrno gasped and ran forward, past tables with strange machines on them. "I never thought Shader would have left these! They must have gone in a hurry."

"What are they?" Rosette asked, walking up beside him. The coffins had clear tops and looked like they were filled with translucent goo.

He looked at her, his eyes glowing. "Legion tanks. They're mostly designed for healing, but you can use them to reprogram legions."

She stared at him, not understanding.

He bit his lip, trying to think how to explain it to her. English didn't have words for these things and she didn't speak his language. He'd never thought to teach it to her, but even if he had, she might not get the references. They were too far outside her experience.

"Legions think. Sort of. Think is the best word. My legions make you a demon, but they don't recognize you as being me; that's why they shut down, er, die, and why I have to keep putting more into you. It's why they don't devour the world every time a demon bleeds. With this, we could reprogram the legions in you now to recognize you as their owner. You could control them and they'd renew themselves then. You wouldn't need me."

Rosette thought about that for a moment and her face darkened. "Are you trying to blow me off or something?"

He threw up his hands to ward her off, blanching. "No! Of course not! You just wouldn't have to worry about anything happening to me."

"You planning on having something happen to you?" she grated.

"No! Of course not! Um, never mind."

Rosette watched him scuttle over to one of the other tables, leaving her by the coffin. She understood what he was saying, mostly, but the thought of not being as connected to him as she had been hurt her in a way. She didn't _want_ to not be reliant on him anymore. Besides, he'd still be dependent on her, wouldn't he? He'd die without her supplying the astral he couldn't draw anymore.

"Chrno?" she asked slowly. He looked back. "Could this thing regrow your horns?"

His smile was sad. "No, they're too complex. It would take a much more powerful computer to manage that. Er, talking box."

Rosette nodded, a little relieved in a way. She wanted him to need her, just as she didn't want to ever stop needing him. She holstered her gun and went over to lean against him. He put an arm around her. "What about my brother and Azmaria?" she asked, not wanting to think about the coffins anymore.

He pointed at a box on the table with a clouded window in the front. What looked like the keyboard to a typewriter sat before it. "This is the thinking box. It will have every record Shader put in it. If they're still here, that is. She recorded everything she did, but she might have taken it all with her. I'm guessing if she had, she would have taken the healing machines as well, so we might get lucky."

He put his hands to the typewriter part and started typing rapidly. Rosette watched, intrigued, as the window suddenly lit up and words appeared on it, scrolling in a line across it. She couldn't read them as they weren't in English, but Chrno explained as he typed. "I'm just booting it up. I can set it to interactive mode. Then it'll talk to us and we can talk to it. It's easier that way. Shader preferred to type, but I always did better with the verbal interface. My spelling sucks."

The girl raised an eyebrow at him. "I don't think I've ever heard you use such big words before."

"Sorry. I don't know what other words to use though."

"It's okay," she smiled. "I'm not used to feeling stupid though, so don't keep it up."

"Right," he laughed, finished a sequence of typing, and stepped back. "That's it. That should start the interface, if it's even still working anymore." He looked up at the ceiling. "Computer, acknowledge."

_"Acknowledged. User Chrno recognized."_

Rosette started at the voice, which was hollow and almost tinny sounding, but Chrno grinned and his tail waved happily. "They didn't lock me out. Granted, they didn't think I'd ever be able to get back up here, but still…" He cleared his throat.

"Computer, new user. User designation Rosette Christopher. Full access. Acknowledge."

_"New user acknowledged. Rosette Christopher. Full access, level B. User acknowledge."_

Chrno nudged her. "Say something. That will let it recognize you."

"Um," Rosette said. "Hello?"

_"User Rosette Christopher recognized. Voice pattern recorded. Awaiting your command."_

"You're in," Chrno cheered. "It'll do whatever you tell it to now. Go ahead, ask it about your brother."

Rosette swallowed, suddenly nervous, and stepped forward, looking up toward the ceiling. "Um, can you tell me where my brother is?"

_"More information required."_

"Uh, his name is Joshua Christopher."

_"Identity not recognized."_

Rosette's heart fell and she looked at Chrno desperately. He put his hands on her shoulders, massaging the muscles and standing right up against her so she could feel his warmth. "Don't worry. Computer, what is the location of Aion?"

_"Unknown."_

"Shader?"

_"Unknown."_

Chrno went through several more names, his voice growing steadily more desperate. The voice didn't know where any of them were. Rosette finally pulled away from Chrno and walked silently out of the room, up the stairs, and across the platform to the edge. There she stood looking down at the earth so far below. Clouds were drifting by below the island, casting shadows across the desert. It was starting to get dark.

A tear trickled down her cheek and fell free, sparkling as it dropped over the edge.

A footstep sounded behind her and Chrno's arms and wings both came around her, his face nuzzling into her neck.

"I'm sorry," he mourned. "I'm so sorry."

Rosette sniffled and wiped her nose. "This was supposed to work," she sobbed. "It was supposed to work!" Turning, she punched his chest as he stood back. "This isn't fair!"

Chrno took the blow, shifting back to his human form as he did. "I'm sorry," he said again.

Rosette hit him again, wanting to take her rage out on someone. He didn't try to stop her, his eyes mournful and depressed. That just stoked her anger more and she pushed him, screaming at him, forcing him in stumbling steps backwards across the platform and through the water towards the building.

"How could you be so wrong?!" she shrieked. "Do you know what it does to me to get my hopes up and come here and get _nothing??"_ She poked him hard and he flinched, not making any move to defend himself other than backing up. "You're so stupid!" Tears were pouring down her face. Years they'd searched, years they'd fought to find Joshua. She joined the Order to find him. She let Chrno be tortured to find him. She became a demon to find him. And still she was no closer to doing so than the day Aion took him. All the pain inside her was boiling, demanding a way out, desperate to escape, and she grabbed Chrno's shirt, pulling him to his knees and stepping up against him. He tilted his head back as far as it would go to see her, his hands lax by his sides.

"You idiot," she whispered, her grip loosening to draw a finger up along his cheek. The agony was still whirling in her. "You're stupid, you know that?"

"Yes, Rosette," he whispered back, his eyes soft and submissive. She could feel his mind again, open to her. She could kill him in an instant, she knew, and he'd let her. Powerless to do anything about her brother, her power over _him_ consumed her.

In an instant, she had him flat on his back on the floor, his legs bent under him and Rosette lying on top, her mouth locked on his own. She ravaged a kiss out of him, her fingers clawing at his clothes and tearing his shirt open. He lifted his hands to help her, but she slapped them away and he let them drop back by his side, just letting her do what she needed.

She just wasn't so sure what that was. She only knew she needed to be in control of something and Chrno was there, willing to let her. She ripped his shirt fully open, barely aware that they were at least inside now, and grabbed him by the throat with one hand, holding him to the floor while she pulled his pants open and freed him. His mind she stroked until his eyes rolled up into his head and he shuddered, whimpering in pain and ecstasy both, though the small, rational part of her made sure the ecstasy was greater.

"You're mine, right?" she snapped at him.

"Yes, Rosette," he gasped.

The girl ducked down and took him in her mouth for a slow lick. He shrieked and she brought her head up again. "Forever?" she added.

"Yes, Rosette."

Some of the tension eased. "And you'll always be with me, right?"

"Yes, Rosette," he breathed.

The anguish faded. Rosette's hand gentled on him and she leaned over, kissing him gently. "I love you," she whispered.

"I know," he smiled.

"I'm sorry if I hurt you," she told him truthfully.

He reached up to her. "Does this mean you're going to stop?" He kissed her and Rosette melted against him, her arms coming up around his neck.

They ended up in one of the bedrooms, doing something softer than what she'd done to him in the kitchen but even more intense. Rosette let Chrno rise above her, holding her almost closer than her own skin, his tongue dancing along hers as he slid into her, banishing the last of the grief about their failure. Still not completely ready to give up control, she rolled him over, rising up above him, and he sighed, always having preferred her mastering him. His hands rose to caress her breasts and she sighed, smiling at him.

"Forgive me for being an ass?" she asked him.

"Don't I always?"

Rosette cuffed him lightly, though the blow turned into a caress of his ear. "Idiot," she murmured.

"Only sometimes." He lifted his hips up repeatedly to meet hers, sweat beading on his lip. "We'll find him, Rosette. I promise you we will."

"I know," she breathed, and focused her attention on what they were doing. They lost themselves in each other, finding solace in the other's love, letting the fire of it consume them until they found their release and she collapsed against him, breathless.

"I think I really needed that," she gasped.

"Glad I could help." He stretched and put a hand on her cheek. "Let's try the computer again. If it doesn't know where Aion is now, it might know where he was planning to go. Sometimes you just have to change the question you ask it."

"Okay," she sighed. "I think I hate it though. It's such a stup---"

The wall of the bedroom exploded inward, throwing them both across the room. Rosette hit the far wall back first and yelped in pain, losing track of Chrno in the smoke.

A huge shape hovered in the hole that had been blown in the wall of the building, something massive and fat with a pig's face mostly hidden behind a heavy helmet. Glowing eyes peered in at her.

"Used the computer," it grated. "Stupid. Let us track you. Gigigi. Where's the Sinner?"

Rosette glared at it, bracing herself to leap for her guns.

A growl interrupted her. An instant later, Chrno erupted out of the rubble, wings spreading wide as he glowed with astral, hitting the pig demon with a blast of power that blew it backwards out through the hole. He followed right after it. Additional explosions sounded from outside, and yells from far more voices than Rosette wanted to count. Cursing, she scrambled for her guns, ignoring her clothes as she ran out the door and scrambled down the stairs to the main floor.

Chrno was airborne outside in the darkening sky, throwing astral around indiscriminately. Rosette gasped at the sight of it, knowing he had few reserves to draw on, but she could see he also had no choice. There were dozens of demons surrounding him, including the pig demon and a muscular, far too human-looking man with wings even larger than Chrno's.

"Surrender, Sinner!" he bellowed. "You can't beat us all without your horns!"

"Stuff it, Dafou!" Chrno yelled back, ducking around a demon with broad horns and stabbing it straight through the back with his whip tail. The demon screamed and dropped, Chrno dragging his tail through it so viciously that it landed on the ground in two separate pieces. More demons moved to take its place, trying to catch him between them.

Rosette started swearing, unheeding of the rubble she was standing on with bare feet as she aimed her weapon, the rest of her ammo hastily piled behind her. Three Sacreds slammed into the closest demon and it screamed, exploding into ash. Rosette took the opening it gave her and put another four rounds into a second demon's side while Chrno took a third's head off at the shoulder.

The rest of the demons roared, following Dafau's orders to surround Chrno, and Rosette fired a couple of shots at him. He blocked them with his arm and she gasped as he remained unharmed.

"Rosette!" Chrno yelled wearily. "Run!"

Dafau threw a ball of astral at her. Swearing, Rosette dove out of the way, cutting herself a dozen times across her nude body as she rolled and the doorway exploded behind her. Chrno screamed and she felt astral pass overhead, exploding against something that had been rising over her. That something screamed and she jumped to her feet as a demon fell back from her.

She only had the bullets in her current clip, the rest destroyed in the doorway. Chrno was above her, fighting madly against multiple demons, and astral flashed as they threw energy at each other, the explosions deafening her screams to her lover. He was killing himself, trying to lead them away from her.

A hand clasped around her neck and she was hauled off the ground. "Is he sacrificing himself for you, girl?" Dafau asked, his breath hot on her neck. In answer, Rosette brought her gun up and pointed it upside down over her shoulder, right at his face. She pulled the trigger and he bellowed in pain, throwing her away from him.

Rosette screamed, losing her pistol as she flew across the platform and landed hard on the other side of the water, tearing the skin off her shoulder and side as she rolled helplessly across the stone toward the edge.

Somewhere above her, she heard Chrno's bellow of horror and pain. Catching herself with her hands, just at the edge of the drop, Rosette stared down for an instant at the night darkened sky, lit far below by a few dots that had to be campfires in the desert. It only caught her attention fleetingly as she pushed herself up and leaped to her feet, turning around.

Dafau stood on the far side of the water, one hand to his bleeding face and his expression enraged. He pointed a hand at her, the palm glowing, and she braced herself to dodge, even though she didn't know where she was supposed to dodge to. Demons fought above her, their screams and explosions lighting the entire platform.

"ROSETTE!"

Chrno dove for her, his naked body covered in blood and his face desperate. He swooped down, arms outstretched, and caught her, throwing her out of the way just as Dafau fired.

The astral hit him dead centre and blew through his chest.

Lying where she'd landed, Rosette looked back over her shoulder and saw the almost puzzled look on his face. He stood there on the edge of the platform for a moment, looking like he wanted to say something while Dafau closed his fist and watched him appraisingly.

Then Chrno's eyes closed and he fell soundlessly backwards over the side.

"CHRNO!" Rosette screamed.

Dafau and the surviving demons didn't even look at her. They followed Chrno and she scrambled up to the edge, howling as she looked down to see them diving after the broken, tumbling figure. She couldn't even tell if they caught him as they all vanished into the darkness.

"CHRNO!" Rosette shrieked, sobbing. "CHRNO!"

**THE END**

_What, you think I'd leave it there? Of course it's to be continued._


	9. Transformations

**TRANSFORMATIONS**

By Hydraa

_This takes place after "Eden".__ This does have spoilers to Volume 8, though I'm taking it in my own direction._

---000---

Chrno fell, tumbling end over end as the platform receded above him, tangled in his limp wings and tail. Pain brought him out of darkness for a moment, but he couldn't make most of his body respond. The hole in his chest continued through his back and his legions struggled to repair his spine, even as blood poured out, trailing in the air above him.

Dazed and deep in shock, he watched Eden shrinking above him and couldn't figure out why. Rosette was up there though, and he reached out, wanting to go to her. He could smell her on him still and gasped, wanting her.

She wasn't the one who came for him. Dozens of demons speared out of the darkness, howling as they dove to catch him. Chrno reached for them, but none of them were Rosette. She wasn't with them.

Chrno's eyes fluttered closed and he relaxed, drifting back into that warm, sleepy darkness.

Unconscious, he fell.

---000---

Dafau cursed as he dove, his wings angled back behind him so as not to slow him down. The Sinner was at terminal velocity already, his body plummeting straight down with no sign that he was able to help himself. If they didn't catch him soon, they wouldn't have enough altitude left to save him.

Over fifty years they'd been trying to catch a Sinner alive and their orders were clear. Chrno was no use to them dead. To not obey an order was incomprehensible, something that only a Sinner would do.

Dafau personally had never expected to see Chrno the Broken Horn again, and certainly not to see him in Eden itself. The rest of the Sinners knew it was being watched, that they were monitoring any attempt to use the computer, but Chrno wasn't with them anymore, was he? He'd had some sort of falling out with his brother, which made it at least the second time he'd disobeyed orders given to him by his master.

Both brothers were failed experiments. In Dafau's mind, they should have been killed at the moment of their unnatural birth.

For now, though, Pandemonium demanded a Sinner. Especially she wanted this one and Dafau wasn't prepared to fail her. He pulled his wings closer together, trying for more speed, and drew level with the Sinner as Chrno rolled bonelessly in the air, his body just unaerodynamic enough to slow him down.

Dafau drew level and grabbed the smaller demon's arm, his claws biting deep into the flesh before he spread his wings to act as brakes. Chrno swung around him, his momentum still too high, and Dafau clearly heard his arm snap from the strain. He didn't wake though, his head hanging limply, his wings and tail dangling down. Dafau preferred him that way. Chrno and his brother were failures, but they were lethal ones.

Kalv flew down beside him, his pig face flushed from the fight. "Still alive gigigi?" he asked.

"I don't know," the demon General admitted. He'd meant to obliterate the girl with that blast, not hit Chrno. He might have done more damage than the younger demon could take. He could feel how weak his legions were, his astral dwindled nearly to nothing from both the fight and the injury. "Damn." While the other demons circled around him, he pulled Chrno up and locked his mouth over his, breathing astral into him. Chrno hung motionless in his arms, his nude body slick with blood. His ability to heal himself was severely curtailed without his mind controlling his legions and Dafau felt most of the power going to waste.

"Give him some of your astral," he ordered Kalv, handing the boy over. In the end, Chrno was passed between almost all of them, until his tissues were so saturated that he stabilized, his wounds still terrible, but so infused with energy that it almost didn't matter. He was still bleeding out though and Dafau could tell he didn't have a lot of time left.

Chrno stirred as the General took him back, groaning and lifting his head. He stared at him with no comprehension for a moment, and then recognition flooded through his face. Without even bothering to say anything, Dafau slammed a fist against one of the caps covering his horn stumps, and the boy went limp again.

"Get ready to shift back to Pandemonium!" he yelled, one arm hooked around Chrno. The others gathered, focusing their energy, and found the path through the astral that would take them where they wanted to go. It could only be used if the demon knew exactly where they were going, or if a human summoned them and thus gave them a landing place, but they knew Pandemonium very well.

They glowed, all of them flashing brightly in the darkness, and then they were gone.

--000---

"No," Rosette whimpered, kneeling on the edge of the platform and staring down at the darkness. Tears poured down her face and dripped off her chin, falling after the demons like diamonds. "Oh, God, please, no."

Like usual, God didn't answer her. She didn't see any flashes of light or hear any sudden explosions that would show Chrno was still fighting. She didn't see anything, other than a few campfires so far below, the militia settled in for the night. They couldn't help her though. They couldn't help Chrno.

"NO!" she screamed and kept screaming until her voice broke.

Her eyes during the scream, she didn't see the flash of light far below.

---000---

Chrno woke again lying on his back, his wings crushed underneath him as he was dragged by one arm across a floor. His eyes opened, his head hanging back, and he had a confused, upside-down look of a huge corridor made of glowing metal and a mass of demons, all crowded together and roaring. It was a continuous noise that was non-stop, and it took him a dazed minute to realize it was half the roaring in his ears and half their cheers.

He was in Pandemonium, he realized with absolute horror. They were cheering because he'd been brought back.

Everything hurt. Chrno was in so much pain he could barely think beyond that terrible recognition. Agony speared through his entire body and he felt the blood covering him helping to slick his skin and make it easier for his captor to drag him. They didn't even bother to carry him. He was treated no better than a sack of waste being taken to the recyclers.

Everyone was screaming in triumph, the demon who dragged him shouting out his own name as he yanked Chrno across the floor. The other demons who'd attacked at Eden walked all around them, sucking up the accolades from the thousands of other demons who never left Pandemonium and usually hated those who did. They were all united in one thing now though. His capture.

Rosette, he wondered. Where was Rosette? Was she all right? Once Dafau had _him_, they had no need to bother with her, but how was she going to get down from Eden? She was going to die there without him, he realized, and with a scream he whipped his tail around, bringing the sharpened end down on Dafau's wrist, cutting right through it.

The General howled, his hand still gripping Chrno's arm but no longer attached to his body. Chrno's half conceived notion of leaping to his feet and flying desperately to the transport chambers, dodging and fighting whoever got in his way, didn't happen. He dropped against the ground, his skull hitting with a distinct thud, and couldn't move. His tail crumpled against the floor a moment later.

There was shocked silence for a moment and then the cheers resounded again, twice as loud.

What was he doing? Chrno tried to remember. It wouldn't quite come to him. It was getting dark and he could hear Rosette laughing. Where was she?

Dafau cursed and turned, his wrist already starting to repair itself as he grabbed Chrno by the throat and hauled him up. The younger demon came limply, whatever fight he'd managed to find already gone out of him. He was very close to death, the last of his astral leaving him. Dafau had done his job though. He'd brought him back alive.

"Good riddance," he growled and threw him across the room that had opened before them, right to the foot of a dais that rose high above the main level. Huge windows stood behind it, showing a watery darkness on the other side. Chrno landed on his front and slid, his head coming to rest against something massive and chitinous.

The pain of it brought him back to himself for a brief moment. Choking out blood, he looked at the thing he'd landed against. It was similar to an insect's foot, only huge; fifteen inches across and five feet long.

The little blood still remaining in him went cold. Something grabbed him and Chrno was hauled up, lifted off the ground and brought high until he came face to face with what might once have been a beautiful woman. Now she was a blind, twisted facade with massive horns on each side.

"CHRNO," she intoned, the sound of it echoing in his head as much as his ears.

"P-pandemonium," he managed and fainted.

---000---

Rosette wandered around Eden in a daze, shivering in the cold air. Chrno had been right. It was cold up here, but she barely felt it, or noticed she was still nude. She circled the platform, her hair blowing in the wind, her arms limp at her sides and covered in goose bumps. Her breathing was short and shallow, her eyes unfocused. She didn't recognize the symptoms for shock, or anything else for that matter. Only a miracle kept her from unwittingly walking off the side of the platform.

All she could see was the image of Chrno standing there, most of his chest gone and a huge hole in his back. She'd been able to see the sky through it before he fell. She whimpered, circling past the place where he'd been hit again. He was dead, he was dead, he'd left her, he'd promised he would never leave her. He'd _just finished_ promising he wouldn't leave her. He lied!

Rosette screamed, her fists clenching. He lied! She wanted to go after him, after the demons who took him, wanted to change shape the way he did to have wings and follow them. She wanted to rip them apart and get him back. She wanted it, but the legions inside him didn't belong to her and wouldn't obey.

The girl panted, staring up at the stars above her and trembling. She could make his legions hers, Chrno had told her. She could change them so they recognized her and become a real demon, not just a fake who couldn't fight back when her ammunition got destroyed. She could get them, and find her brother, and Azmaria…

…and find Chrno, so she could tell him how much she loved him and how _pissed_ she was at him for lying.

She turned, sprinting across the platform and back to the building. The doorway was in ruins, but she scrambled through it and ran for the stairs into the basement lab.

"Hey!" she yelled as she ran in. "Wake up!"

"_User Rosette Christopher recognized,"_ the voice said flatly.

"I want to use those coffin things!" Rosette snapped. "The ones with the goop in them."

"_Terminology not recognized."_

She ground her teeth together. "I want you to take the legions inside me and make them so they recognize me as their master. Got it?"

"…_extrapolation required… understood."_ One of the coffin lids opened, showing the gel inside clearly. It sloshed lightly against the sides and smelled metallic.

Rosette swallowed. "What do I do?"

"_Enter the tank. The process will take approximately __2.7 days."_

Rosette blinked, wondering what she was supposed to do during that time if she needed to go to the bathroom. Stubborn though, she stepped forward. There was nothing else to do but try it.

The goo was warm and thick. Rosette climbed into it and eased herself down, sitting in it like it was a bathtub. "Now what?" she grumbled.

In answer, the lid of the tank swung back over. Rosette yelped, putting her hands up against it, but it had surprising leverage, pushing her back into the tank. "I'll drown!" she gasped, just before it pushed her underneath and locked.

She held her breath, banging on the lid and trying not to scream, but the lid was sealed. Around her, the gel heated up even more and she struggled not to inhale, only her lungs were burning and she couldn't hold her breath forever. Finally, she gasped, even knowing it was useless, and gel flowed into her lungs.

The pain eased. Rosette blinked, shocked to find she was breathing anyway. She was getting sleepy as well and before she could figure out what was happening, she was dead to the world.

---000---

Dafau's job had been to bring the Sinner back alive. The job of the healer demons was to keep him that way.

It didn't look like it was going to be easy. For hours, they hurried around him, trying to stabilize him, struggling to jump-start his legions and, when that didn't work, inject him with new ones. Usually when a demon was this badly injured, they were euthanized, but this one was needed. For what they didn't know, they were just aware that Pandemonium ordered it and her law was absolute. To fail was to die.

They operated for hours, using skills not needed in centuries and referring to texts in desperation as they rebuilt his chest and spine from raw matter, feeding him oxygen and astral in huge, wasteful amounts to keep his mind from slipping away. He lay unknowing throughout all of it, his legions directed by the main computers to do what needed to be done.

Finally, they put him in a tank of legions, immersing him completely in the desperate hope that he would heal.

Dafau came to see him there. His own hand was still regrowing, the new appendage small and stubby, next to useless. He stood in front of the restoration tank, frowning.

Chrno floated limply inside, his long hair waving in the liquid around his face, most of which was hidden by a full sized mask that fed him pure oxygen. His wings were half unfurled behind him and his tail hung down motionless. His chest was a mass of writhing tissue, the legions glowing orange as they worked on him. More were at his temples, recreating his horns.

The General shook his head. He'd had his debrief with Pandemonium and he knew what she wanted with the Sinner now. A very large part of him was insulted she didn't trust this to his troops, but he couldn't argue, wouldn't even if he could. They'd already tried and failed many times. Chrno was unique, matched only by Aion. Dafau would have killed them at birth, but Pandemonium refused it, directing instead that the twins be raised like any other demons. Only they weren't like other demons. Aion was meant to be a soldier but became more independent than even the Generals, actually drawing other demons away from Pandemonium to obey him instead. Chrno was more submissive, but could change his allegiance whenever he wanted, going through Dafau didn't know how many masters by now. Worst of all, both of them were the most powerful demons Pandemonium had ever seen, Chrno able to freeze time, Aion to change it, both of them to destroy on a level never matched before or since.

Neither of them had been conceived as demons at all, though; that was the rub of it. After the crash that brought them to this world, the Pandemonium core had been damaged. They'd been forced to interface her with human women in order to prevent any further degradation. They only lasted a while before needing to be replaced, barely a few centuries, but there were so many available. One of them had been pregnant when she interfaced and the twins she was carrying were changed along with her. Dafau wondered sometimes if it was the woman who became Pandemonium that ordered their survival. Whatever it was, that change made them both different.

Aion knew of his origins, having learned them when he broke through Pandemonium's security into her most top secret files.

Chrno, as far as Dafau knew, had no idea.

The new human interface to Pandemonium had no relation to the twins' mother. Aion had ripped _her_ head off when he rebelled and taken it with him, including her remote access to Pandemonium's core. The new interface didn't have any compassion for either of them, or so he hoped. She was sparing Chrno after all, though it wasn't really a reprieve. She had a mission for him that only he could do.

The General hated the truth of it, but he had to agree. He just hoped she could control him this time.

"You'll wish we killed you," Dafau told him. Eventually they would, once he'd done what they wanted. Pandemonium had already ordered that Chrno be put down when he was finished. Thank the stars she didn't want to use him for breeding stock. Dafau didn't want to imagine an entire generation like him.

Soon enough he'd be dead, they both would, and this could be put behind them all. No future mothers would be taken to be Pandemonium, and if any were, this time they knew to kill their offspring immediately. Pandemonium would be quiet again, everything under control.

It was something to look forward to.

---000---

Rosette came awake as she heard the sound of the lid lifting off her tank. Something pushed her up and she came free of the gel, eyes opening sleepily.

A moment later, she was leaning over the side of the tank, puking her lungs up.

_"Procedure complete,"_ the voice said.

"Oh, God," Rosette gasped. "I feel sick."

The voice didn't answer, apparently not feeling it had to, and she dragged herself out of the tank. She was dripping with slime, her hair slick and gross. She'd never felt more disgusting in her life.

Other than that, she didn't really seem any different. Like she wanted a shower, sure, and she felt a real kick to the gut when she thought about Chrno, but that was pretty much it. There was just a strange tingling inside her now that she couldn't describe.

"Has Chrno come back?" she asked softly.

_"Negative."_

Rosette started to weep again, wondering if she'd ever be able to stop crying. It didn't look like it. Chrno's loss was killing her and the anger resurged inside her. "Is there anyone else here?" she grated.

_"Negative."_

"A bunch of demons attacked us, led by someone named 'Dafau'. Where would they take Chrno?" If he was still alive. He had to still be alive.

_"Unknown."_

"Guess, you piece of shit!"

_"Pandemonium."_

Rosette went cold. "Where's Pandemonium?"

_"Current location unknown. Extrapolated position midway through Atlantic Ocean."_

The Atlantic? How was she supposed to get out there? "Is it floating or something, like here?"

_"Negative. Pandemonium is located approximately three miles beneath the ocean's surface."_

Rosette blanched. "What?!" She tore at her hair. How the hell could she get there? "How do demons get in there if it's at the bottom of the ocean?"

_"Transport along the astral lines."_

Rosette stood up. "How do I do that?"

_"Impossible without precise targeting coordinates. You would need to accompany someone who knows them."_

Someone who's been to Pandemonium. Rosette's eyes narrowed. "Where's Aion?"

_"Unknown."_

"Extrapolate!"

_"Eighty-two point four percent likelihood he is within the city designated San Francisco."_

"Then I'm going to San Francisco." She was going to get her brother back and then Aion was going to take her to Pandemonium if she had to kill him first.

She stormed out of the lab and up the stairs to the second floor. There she showered in a room that was about the size of the orphanage back home and grabbed her clothes. They were torn, but she didn't care. Pulling them on, she stomped to the very edge of the platform and looked down. It was an awfully long way to the ground.

"Right," she swallowed. "I am a demon. I can change shape, just like Chrno." She braced herself, waiting for it, but nothing happened. "Crap."

How did he do this, anyway? She'd never got around to asking him. Rosette thought of the times she'd seen Chrno change his shape, how his features seemed to flow, and focused on that, imagining her own features doing the same.

The buzz inside her grew and she started to tingle. Realizing she was holding her breath, she made herself take a breath and the tingling exploded inside her.

Rosette screamed, nearly falling off the edge of the platform as something buckled out from her back and her limbs snapped straight. She shuddered on the ground, writhing, but the change continued on, the buzz flowing through her until it felt like every part of her body was stinging, just like her foot would after it was asleep.

Just when she thought it would never end, it was over. Rosette lay there for a moment, panting, and dragged herself over to one of the pools of water.

Her eyes were the same, though ridges had grown along her cheekbones and her horns were a little longer, about two inches in length. Her ears had become pointed and her hair was thicker. Her hands were clawed as well.

It was the wings that made her gasp. They started like Chrno's, shaped like a bat's, but the sail turned to feathers at the joint, framing them in a halo of softness. They were as golden as her hair.

It took her a couple of minutes to figure out how to move them, her body unused to having two extra limbs. After that, it took her hours to get the hang of running across the platform, jumping in the air and flapping to try and get aloft without crashing. When she had it down right two out of three times, she went back to the edge of the platform, her teeth gritted.

"Okay, Joshua, I'm going to find you now. And Chrno? I'll be coming after you next. You better not be dead or I'll never forgive you."

Chrno had said that getting down from Eden was easy. All you had to do was jump.

Rosette jumped.

---000---

Chrno woke to the sound of hysterical screams of pain that weren't his own. They lanced through his mind, making him wince from the horror of it. He couldn't move though. He could feel his lower body again, but that meant he could also feel the chains that were wrapped around his legs and arms, making him about as maneuverable as a slug. He moved fairly rapidly though, two demons dragging him by his bound wings across the floor. He stared down at the polished surface for a moment, blinking at his reflection, and then looked up.

Pandemonium was mating. Shaped like a huge, bulbous insect with a human torso on the top, she had a demon clenched in her pincers, her ovipositor pulled around and imbedded in his body. She was draining him of seed and spiritual vitality both, her organ making a sickening, sucking noise as it pulled everything the man was into her to inseminate her eggs.

His screams grew less, his agony so great that his sanity was already gone. A moment later the last of his life vanished as well and she dropped him, turning away in disinterest. A small demon scurried out and collected the remains, hurrying away with them. They looked like all his insides had been liquefied and sucked out, which they had.

Chrno went cold, wondering if he was next. Pandemonium resettled on her throne, her ovipositor off to one side as something rippled down inside it and she lowered the mouth to the ground, depositing an egg. A second servant demon hurried out to collect it.

Desperate, Chrno started to fight against his chains, trying to break the legion-strengthened things before he was brought within reach of her. The one around his legs snapped loudly and something hit him so hard that he choked out his breath, convulsing.

Pandemonium stared down at him. She didn't touch him at all, but her mind was in his, forcing its way past all the barriers he had up normally, down the routes that Rosette cradled so gently when she made love to him. Pandemonium wasn't nearly so delicate though and he screamed in absolute agony, trying desperately to deny her.

"THERE IS NO DENYING ME," she said into his mind and he convulsed again, knowing she was right. He was going to die here.

"NO. DEATH IS NOT PERMITTED." She pulled back slightly, her hooks in his mind but not so deep they would kill him. Chrno collapsed against the floor, sobbing. "YOU WILL OBEY."

Chrno wept against the ground, uncaring of how he looked as his horns ached. He'd barely realized he _had_ horns again when she was in his mind again, using those horns as a direct link. It was why Aion had torn his own out. Pandemonium used them to control them all.

"YOUR PURPOSE IS TO OBEY ME, CHRNO. MY WILL IS NOW YOURS. YOU WILL CONFORM." Her mind drove deep again, reprogramming him, and he felt everything he was tumbling away, his memories falling into the distance. He could see Rosette in his mind's eye and reached for her desperately, but Pandemonium had her claws in him and she pulled him back, burying him in her darkness. Moments later, he couldn't remember what the blonde girl looked like, or her name, or why she'd mattered so much to him in the first place.

Dafau walked into the audience chamber, bowing to Pandemonium as he crossed over to Chrno's side. He looked down at the shuddering wreck, his eyes rolled back in his head and froth on his lips. His face was white, his mouth twisted with pain. Dafau had no sympathy for him.

"THE OTHER SINNERS ARE IN SAN FRANCISCO," Pandemonium told him. "I HAVE PINPOINTED THE REMOTE'S LOCATION."

Dafau bowed again. "Yes, liege." She narrowed down the head's position every few years, but none of them were strong enough to take on Aion, even in force. They hadn't even tried in decades. He looked back at Chrno. He didn't look to have the slightest awareness of what was going on around him and the General wondered if there was anything of the old Chrno left inside. It wouldn't really matter though, not so long as he did what was needed.

Aion was in for a huge surprise.

---000---

Apparently, flapping along level ground was different from diving off a cliff that happened to be miles high. Rosette plummeted straight down, her wings beating madly, only she couldn't get her body at an angle good enough for it to be of any use. She just threw herself around, out of control.

"Applesauce!" she shrieked. "This isn't faaaaiiiirrrr!!!!"

She tumbled through the air, trying to get control of her fall, and somehow ended up on her stomach, her arms and legs bent up uselessly as she fell. At least she wasn't rolling around anymore and she cautiously spread her wings, trying to control things. Immediately, she was swooping, gliding away from Eden, and shrieked, rolling a little and unwittingly turning herself in a circle. Somehow, she didn't understand how, that slowed her down and she held herself in that position, circling gently in the air above the desert. Gradually, she descended, circling constantly over the same patch of air.

It would have been fascinating if it hadn't also been so bloody boring.

Once she got Chrno back, she was going to have to make him give her flying lessons, after she apologized for the time she forced him to fly her from New York to Pittsburgh. Her natural resilience back now that she was actually doing something, she tried really hard to believe that he was still alive. He was a demon after all. Demons were insanely tough. Chrno would be okay. He had to be.

Slowly she dropped in altitude, her wings aching from the unfamiliar exercise and translating that feeling into her shoulders and back. Muttering under her breath, she kept circling, not quite brave enough to try and narrow the circle and maybe end up falling again. It gave her lots of time to see the militia moving below her though.

It was obvious they'd seen her. They'd set up a camp in the desert and it looked like they were working on assembling a hot air balloon, though she doubted it would make it all the way up to Eden. Right now they were running around, arming themselves, and she was glad that she could see a man with crutches hobbling out of one of the tents. Remington didn't listen any better than Kate.

"I don't know how to land!" Rosette screamed once she circled low enough for him to hear her. He waved at her and pointed at a stretch of sand beyond where they were camped. Rosette made a face, but it was far less rocky than the rest of the ground and there were fewer cactuses. Carefully, she tried to angle herself towards it and screamed all the way in as she came in for a crash landing that ended with her skidding on her belly for twenty feet, sand pouring down the top of her shirt. Finally coming to a stinging stop just shy of one of those cactuses, she let her forehead rest on the ground. "Ow."

Footsteps in the sand sounded all around her, militia running in. They sounded scared, most of them not knowing what she was. Rosette let her wings flop down on the sand to either side of her as she heard her name called and levered herself up, expecting to see Father Remington.

Instead she saw Sister Kate, sweating in her nun's habit as she pushed her glasses up her nose. The woman's face was pale. "Rosette?" she said again unbelievingly.

Rosette's bottom lip started trembling. "Sister Kate!" she wailed and hurled herself at the older woman, throwing her arms around her waist and burying her face against her stomach as she started to cry.

**THE END**

_To be continued. _

_Come on, people. Can I get some reviews? Please?_


	10. War

**WAR**

By Hydraa

_This is the sequel to "Transformation"._

_Please review. Enjoy._

---000---

Inside a dark, hot tent pitched in the middle of a Texas desert, Sister Kate sat at a large, heavy radio, the headphones held to her ear while she carefully wrote out the translation for the morse code she was hearing. The dots and dashes came over the wire for a long time, finally pausing before beginning again. Kate listened through it all twice to make sure she had it and then tapped her own code sender rapidly, sending a much shorter acknowledgement. That done, she sat there and translated it, her lips pursed while she worked. By the time she was done, a tension line had appeared in her forehead and she could feel the beginnings of a headache.

She read the message three times, but her translation was perfect, her diction flawless. The message was what it was. Slowly, the woman stood and made her way out of the tent.

The heat was only marginally better outside, still far hotter than it had a right to be in winter. Sweating in her habit and headdress, she crossed the sand to another tent, quietly lifting the flap and going inside.

Father Remington sat on a camp chair in the forward section, his crutch resting on the floor beside him and his eyes heavy with pain. His left leg was in a cast up to his hip and Kate knew he was hurting, but he never said anything about it, just insisted that she bring him along. Kate played his game and didn't say anything about the look in his eyes or the cup of willow bark tea he had on the table before him. She just made sure she kept his input mental as much as possible, and right now she could use his input indeed.

She tilted her head toward the curtain that divided the tent. "How is Rosette?" she whispered.

"Still sleeping," was the quiet answer. "She's exhausted."

Kate could believe it. The girl had been wiped out when she arrived, without surprise. She'd eaten enough for three people once they brought her in and then passed out, snoring loudly. Kate could hear her now, sounding somewhat like a piece of machinery that badly needed to be oiled. She almost smiled, but she couldn't get the image out of her head, of a winged Rosette shooting by overhead to do a belly first landing in the sand. She'd had real wings, golden, beautiful wings, and she'd cried when she'd seen her. Kate didn't know what she'd planned to do when Rosette showed up, but she didn't think she'd ever anticipated it to include holding the girl while she wailed for her lover.

Chrno had promised he'd die for her. From the sound of it, he'd kept that promise. Kate took a moment to offer a prayer to him for that sacrifice and turned back to the head of her militia.

"We've received word from the council. Demons are gathering in San Francisco."

He blinked at her and took a grimacing swallow of his tea. "How many?" he choked.

"Unless they're exaggerating, thousands." She stared down at the paper. "They're appearing everywhere, apparently forming into ranks but causing a lot of destruction in the meanwhile."

"Do they know why?" he asked quietly.

"No. The Council is calling in everyone. The plane I used to get here is waiting for us at the airport." She looked at him intently, already knowing what he had to be thinking.

"Rosette thinks Aion is in San Francisco," he said evenly, fulfilling her expectations. "They could be his troops."

"She said he only had three or four Sinners left. These have to be from Pandemonium."

He took a deep breath. "Then it's war. Whatever Aion wants, they want to stop him."

Kate nodded. "I doubt we want to be caught in the crossfire." Whatever Aion was up to, he needed the Apostles for it, and it seemed he had six of the seven already, including Joshua Christopher and Azmaria Hendric. Either he'd found the seventh and Pandemonium wanted to stop him, or this was a preventative strike before he found the final one.

If only she'd asked Chrno what Aion wanted the Apostles for, but she hadn't trusted him enough to tell the truth, not until today, when she learned how he died for Rosette. He'd truly loved her. Kate hadn't been able to believe that until now.

At least they had the girl back. She was a demon, but she was a demon with wings that were half those of an angel. Not knowing what else to believe, Kate had to take those as a sign from God and do what she must.

"Let her sleep for now," she told Remington, "but get ready to move. I'll mobilize the militia here and order those back home in. We're all going to San Francisco."

"Right," Remington nodded. "May God be with us."

Kate looked at the back curtain with its sonorous snoring. "I think He always has been," she decided.

---000---

Dafau teleported in to what once was a parking lot for a series of stores, before it became the landing coordinates for the invasion. The servant demon who'd led him there, a tiny thing that flew in the first time the hard way so that it could learn the landing zone, bowed deeply and vanished. It would be back in minutes, bringing the next group along piggybacked on its journey through the astral lines.

Dafau gestured at his dozen troops, all elite soldier demons and the most powerful that Pandemonium had to offer. None of them had a chance against Aion. "Get out of the way," he ordered. They didn't want the next group to teleport in on top of them, or through them as the case may be.

"Fight soon gigigi?" Kalv laughed, pig face lifted to sniff at the air. "Smell humans."

"Yes. There would be some here." Dafau could smell them himself as he led them out of the parking lot. He could smell their blood, their terror… he could smell smoke and gunpowder as well, but whoever had tried to resist the first wave was dead already. Dafau could smell their meat.

"When do we get to fight?" Ghouleo asked, his broad horns nearly hitting his neighbour as he turned his head. They crossed the road and headed into a grocery store that had been turned into their central command.

"Soon," Dafau assured them. Once Aion got cocky and decided to attack. He would, Dafau knew. He always did, confident in his own superiority. It galled the General, but it would work against the Sinner this time.

He looked down at the most important member of his current team. It was a minuscule messenger demon, soft and helpless, but able to teleport from anywhere back to Pandemonium at a glance and return in seconds. Normally, Dafau wouldn't notice one save to take their message, but they'd be relying on this one today. It already had its orders and it blinked wetly up at the General before bowing deeply. It knew better than to fail. The same could be said for the two elite waiting for it in Pandemonium with their cargo. All Aion had to do was attack.

Dafau hoped he fell for it soon.

---000---

Aion stood at the window of the beach house, listening to the radio behind him scream about demons while he watched the flocks gathering over the city. There were so many he could see them even from where he was.

Dafau had brought in all his troops. Aion would have been impressed if he thought they had a chance, but instead he was merely amused and a little disappointed. Still, what was Dafau supposed to do? He knew Aion was up to something, and he probably knew he was close to accomplishing it. He had no choice but to stop him.

He might even succeed. From the look of it, he was outnumbered thousands to one, but Aion was no ordinary demon. He knew he still had the advantage.

That didn't mean he was going to take Dafau up on his obvious invite though. He had better things to do than engage in rampant violence. Still, he frowned, it wasn't like he could just up and leave so easily. He had five apostles stashed in the basement and they weren't going to be effortless to move. Dafau only had to kill one of them and his plans would be put back another hundred years or more.

There was movement behind him and a blonde boy wandered up beside him, his skull framed by long, rough horns. His expression was insane. "What are they?" Joshua asked.

Aion shrugged. "Demons," he answered calmly.

"Can I kill them?"

The white-haired demon smirked at the boy. Perhaps he should have put the acolyte in stasis with the others, but he was amusing, and useful. Every time demons came sniffing around looking for the Sinners, he killed them all. He was the best guard dog Aion had ever seen. He was also completely psychotic.

"They might be a bit much even for you," he told the boy. "Don't worry about it."

Joshua's expression took on a look of indifference and he wandered away, followed as always by Fiore, her hands clasped before her. Aion watched them go and looked at the other Sinners. There were only three of them left and they looked nervous. They were useful and he couldn't imagine his life without them, but none of them could even pretend to take on the numbers out there. If the house was found, they were all dead.

That pretty much settled it. They couldn't move easily with the acolytes and they couldn't just hold out where they were. Not without the beach house turning into a large hole in the ground. Dafau obviously didn't know exactly where they were, or they'd be after them already, but they were close enough that it was only a matter of time before they triangulated on Pandemonium's head.

"I guess I know what I'm doing tonight," he said dryly and turned, making his way over to his Sinners. They watched him with wide eyes, their uncertainty obvious, but none of them protested giving him their astral. They were afraid for him though, he could feel it.

"Don't worry about me," he told them and went to collect the entirety of his gemstones. In addition to using their astral, he'd had Fiore make up gems for him containing the souls of humans stupid enough to make contracts with him. They more than made up for the horns he no longer had.

"You better come back," Viede said gruffly.

"Yeah," Genai agreed. "We won't forgive you if you don't."

Both men looked stern, but Shader came up to him, her tail hanging low as she stared up at his face. "Don't take any chances," she warned. "We can't afford to lose you."

Aion smiled and cupped her cheek. "You won't. I don't have time to die." He turned his smile on all of them. "I'll be back before you know it. Wait for me here. If this place is attacked and it looks like you'll lose, run for it. Leave everything. If I have to wait a hundred years, so be it. You three are less replaceable."

Turning, he strode outside, onto the beach where he shifted form, stretching his wings. Palming one of the power stones, he drew his sword and leapt into the air. A moment later, he was flying towards the city's core, where he was sure he'd find Dafau waiting.

---000---

Her hands folded on the knees of her blue dress, Rosette stared out the window of the plane. It was almost weird to be wearing nuns' robes again, but good as well. Certainly the headdress hid her horns better than anything else she'd tried, and the irony almost made her smile. Almost.

They were on their way to San Francisco, only a short way away now, and she forced the muscles in her body to relax. From the look of it, Pandemonium had declared war on Aion and she almost hoped they all ended up killing each other, so long as she found Azmaria, Joshua, and Chrno.

She doubted it would be that easy. She just felt like things had gone so completely out of her control that she didn't know how to handle it. She always wanted to be in charge of everything and she hated it when she wasn't. Even now, as a full demon, she felt powerless.

She'd gone back to her human form, her wings gone again. It took less energy and freaked everyone out less. Besides, what was she supposed to do with her wings most of the time anyway? They didn't exactly make chairs for someone with sails sticking out of their back.

Below, she saw the edge of San Francisco. She could make out the clouds of demons as well, but it didn't look like any great battles had started yet. According to Sister Kate, the militia and the military were still mobilizing. The demons didn't seem to care about them approaching on their flank though. They were waiting for something else.

Apparently for Aion. Rosette made a face. Hopefully he'd wait until she got there, so she could punch his teeth in for him. She doubted it though. He was unbelievably outnumbered. He had to be running.

Something flashed below. Rosette blinked, wondering what it was, and then her eyes widened in surprise.

---000---

Aion looped high over the armies, camouflaging himself in his white armour against the clouds. No one had seen him yet, the airborne forces of the invading army circling around each other. They were soldier demons, but few of them had seen real combat. Pandemonium hadn't gone to war since Aion led the Sinners in their break for freedom, and they'd left most of the army at that time dead, even though it cost them more than ninety percent of their own forces. Most of the deaths had been inflicted by a single Sinner though.

Aion slowed to a hover and focused, awakening his special talent to manipulate time. Nothing happened to the other demons, but for him, time sped up. He grinned, gathered his energy, and threw it at the closest force. Essentially frozen in time from his perspective, they had no way of even realising it was coming, let alone dodging it.

Astral exploded, devastating a hundred demons. They ripped apart in slow motion as Aion dove through them, sending another blast at a second group. None of them could fight back and he didn't care to let them. This was extermination only. Pandemonium could just lay more, at least until he finished with his plan.

---000---

Dafau turned at the explosion and gaped at the sight of a hundred soldier demons suddenly disintegrating in midair. An instant later, another flock was destroyed and the rest screamed in horror, trying to flee. Before they could even turn, a third group was gone.

"Gigigi…" Kalv managed, his eyes huge. They'd expected this, planned for it, but still…

Dafau, Kalv, and Ghouleo were out in the open, bait even more than the rest of the troops. A moment later, Aion was hovering above them, smirking.

"Hello, Dafau," he said amiably.

"Aion," Dafau replied, gesturing with the hand behind his back. Faintly, he heard the pop of the messenger demon vanishing.

"Pandemonium nagging you again?" the white-haired demon asked, confident as always. Dafau had bet all their lives on it. "Otherwise, why come here? You know you can't beat me."

"You've become too arrogant, Aion," the General told him. "You're going to lose this time."

Aion laughed, freely and openly. "Really? Why is that?"

"Because you forget that you're _not_ the one with the reputation for being the deadliest killer in Pandemonium."

There was a rush of air and the messenger demon was back, appearing before Dafau. Standing where he was, the General saw the expression on the Sinner's face change, from shock to something like horror.

The messenger was nothing to him. Neither were the two elite soldiers, huge hulking things made of nothing but claws and muscle. His focus was on the lean form between them, dressed entirely in black leather and steel, metal shackles at his wrists, ankles, and throat. The clicks of those chains coming free was echoingly loud in the silent air.

"Chrno," Dafau called, smirking. _"KILL HIM!"_

---000---

Crowded with nuns and priests at the tiny windows, Rosette stared down at the city as entire flocks of demons vanished in explosions of light.

"Dear God in heaven," someone whispered. Rosette wasn't sure who.

She didn't know what was going on. She could see the first army, all of them trying to run, but not the attackers. There didn't seem to be any, but hundreds of demons were dead already, burned to ash in a heartbeat.

For a long minute there was absolute stillness, followed by an explosion that whited out the entire city. The men and women around her yelped, yanking their faces away, but Rosette's demon eyes adapted faster. In the aftermath of the flash, she saw a white form shoot upwards at an angle, followed by a second, black shape. They were impossibly fast.

"Chrno?" she whispered.

---000---

Aion shot upwards as fast as he could, cursing. Barely thirty feet behind him, Chrno raced in pursuit, his fangs bared and his claws ready. He had _horns_ again, even though Aion had seen them on Joshua less than an hour before.

Instinctively, Aion sped up time, but he only put on a few feet of distance before Chrno's eyes flashed and he _slowed_ time, countering Aion's power. A moment later, he caught up and lashed out. Aion rolled over his claws and was nearly obliterated by the blast of energy he released. It arced up into the sky, vaporizing the clouds above them.

"CHRNO!" Aion screamed. "Stop it!" The lavender-haired demon didn't respond, his eyes so slitted that they were completely white. Even after decades of knowing him and being his master, Aion couldn't feel his mind at all. "Don't let Pandemonium control you!" Chrno didn't answer with anything more than a growl.

When had Pandemonium got to him, he wondered desperately. _How_ had she got to him? Chrno was always as desperate to avoid capture as any of them.

Aion barrel rolled and dropped, trying to get behind him. Chrno twisted and released another ball of energy. Aion barely skittered out of the way and it shot past him, blowing through a skyscraper and impacting with the ground. The resulting explosion sent a plume of smoke rising like a mushroom cloud over the city.

Never in his life had Aion fought on the defensive. He'd always led the battle before, but he'd never attacked his brother from anything but a position of surprise. Chrno was powerful and deadly, but his greatest secret was he would not stop, not for anything. Once he started, entire armies fell before him. In the times Aion tried to kill him, he'd always moved first to take that advantage away, and still Chrno constantly escaped. Hurt certainly, but never dead, no matter how much Aion intended to make him that way.

This time he was at full strength and Aion didn't have any advantages. He couldn't use his time powers since Chrno cancelled them out, and it was really starting to sink in how much he'd come to rely on them. No one had ever even been able to hit him before, but now he bled from a dozen wounds and Chrno was starting to overpower him. The astral he'd taken from his followers was used up; he was down to using the soul gems Fiore made for him while his brother barely looked winded.

They slammed together, power arcing out from them as they grappled hand to hand, trying to push the other back. "Chrno!" Aion shouted, trying to get through whatever madness had his brother. "Stop! You're destroying everything!"

Chrno didn't answer, his eyes not focusing. Aion still couldn't feel his mind. Whatever Pandemonium did to him, she was thorough.

What happened, he wondered again as Chrno stabbed at him with his tail and he barely blocked it with his own. What happened to that human he'd had with him? The one he turned into a demon so he could play house?

"Where's Rosette Christopher?" he shouted, not actually caring but hoping it would get through to him. In answer, there was a faint flicker deep in his eyes. He seized on it. "What did you do to her??"

---000---

The city was in flames, half the demons destroyed in the conflagration and the rest vanishing in midair. Rosette stared out the window of the plane, her heart in her throat. Possessed by some sort of madness, the pilot was still bringing them in and she could hear Kate on the radio, screaming at other people to get their troops ready to advance. How could they advance against that, she wondered, watching another midair explosion that blew the tops off the tallest buildings still standing. It was Armageddon.

Now she understood what Chrno meant when he said she was less powerful, and exactly what she'd bound up with her pocket watch when she was twelve years old. He was stronger than she ever would have been able to dream. Her eyes narrowed. Boy was he in trouble.

The plane banked, headed for the airport, if there was one left. That turned it away from the fight and Rosette ran to the windows on the other side so she could keep watching. She could see the dots that were Chrno and Aion, coming together, backing away, coming together again, flashes of light erupting with every contact. She knew it was them, in every cell of her body and the ache of her horns.

"We have to go back," she said.

Seated next to the window she was looking out of, Remington regarded her. "We can't. We'd be killed if we got any closer."

He was right but… "I have to get over there." Before someone got hurt. Before _he_ got hurt. He was _alive_. Her horns surged and without even thinking it, she changed, wings coming out of her back. Nuns gasped, but she didn't notice. "He needs me!"

Turning, she ran for the hatch. Remington tried to grab her, but she was quick and he was wounded. Rosette pulled down the lever on the door and suddenly the wind was sucking everything loose out of the plane. She let it pull her out as well and dropped, wings spreading.

Awkwardly, ungracefully, she started beating her wings and moved slowly in the direction of the fight.

---000---

Dafau ducked, swearing, as a missed shot by one of the two combatants disintegrated half his army.

"Retreat!" he bellowed. "Back to Pandemonium!" They were just targets here.

One at a time and then in their hundreds, demons started to disappear, following the astral lines that had brought them here back to Pandemonium. Dafau watched Kalv and Ghouleo go with them and looked back skyward. He would stay, to find out how the battle turned out.

If he was lucky, they would both die during it.

---000---

Chrno turned and lashed, claws cutting through nothing as Aion dodged and then flung his whip tail around, scratching the other demon across the thigh. It was a shallow cut, only bringing up a trickle of blood. Rolling backwards, he let a wave of energy go over him and fired off a concentrated burst of his own, not caring where it went once it missed its target.

He didn't care about anything, other than killing the white-haired demon. He could sort of remember his own name, almost recall that he knew the other demon, but it wasn't important. He had one very simple order in his mind and all he could really hear was her voice, repeating it. "KILL AION." It was all that mattered.

His enemy said something, speaking a tongue he didn't care about, other than the last two words. _Rosette Christopher._

He had an order concerning her as well.

The two demons clashed again, tumbling, crashing through a building and impacting into the pavement. Recovering together, they leaped up, airborne again as they tried to cut each other apart. Chrno didn't think about the destruction he was causing or the people that were dying. He just focused on the fight and his duty.

Yet, somewhere in the back of his head, those two words resonated. _Rosette Christopher_.

He started to wonder where she was.

---000---

Aion fought furiously. He was getting near the end of his gems, his body soaked with sweat and blood. He'd retreat, but Chrno was too close. He'd be able to follow him wherever he went if he tried to teleport and he couldn't outrun him. They crashed together again and he glared into Chrno's eyes, the soft red looking back at him.

The soft red? Aion blinked. Chrno's eyes were rounding again, the whiteness disappearing as they unslitted. Had he reached him somehow or was Chrno coming out of it on his own? Desperate, Aion grabbed his face, both hands cupping his cheeks as he left himself open.

"Chrno!" he shouted. "Listen to me! You have to stop!" The shout was as much mental as physical and he saw confusion in his eyes for a moment.

"Rosette? Where's…?" The slits narrowed again and his claws lashed out, biting deep into Aion's side.

It hurt. Aion screamed and wrenched back. Chrno floated where he was, glowing golden and looking down at his bloody hand. He made no move to attack again and Aion backed away, wings beating and his hand pressed against the wound. He had to get back to Shader, now.

"Chrno," he gasped. The red eyes looked up at him. "Rosette needs you. She's in danger." He pointed past his shoulder and the lavender-haired demon turned. Taking the chance, Aion teleported, hoping with everything left in him that Chrno would be too distracted to follow.

He vanished, shattered.

---000---

Dafau watched the end of the fight in horror. He'd done it again, Chrno had bloody well done it again! He'd defied Pandemonium! The General watched him float overhead, looking over the city skyline for something and completely uncaring that his target had vanished. To follow Aion, he would have had to do it in the first instant. Now Aion was gone. Dafau couldn't follow him either as he wasn't close enough.

That idiotic, useless, defiant freak!

Dafau snarled, gathering his energy. He doubted Chrno would just bare his throat for him like they'd planned; he'd have to kill him with the first blast. He drew in as much as he could, preparing it, and the Sinner just floated there, completely ignoring him as he stared into the distance. He made an easy target.

Then he was gone, suddenly blasting into the distance. Cursing, Dafau leaped into the air to follow, the astral burning inside him. Pushing himself to his limit, he gained, hoping Chrno didn't look back, and threw the energy at him. A huge fireball a hundred feet across raced up behind him and Dafau dropped to the ground, too worn out to do it again. That had been his one best chance and from the look of it, Chrno had no idea it was coming.

---000---

Rosette Christopher was in danger. He was not to allow harm to come to Rosette Christopher. That order was older in him than the one to kill Aion. It came first. He flew rapidly, searching for her, rushing to obey that primary command. The fireball he ignored, his senses focused forward to find that one soul.

In the distance, he could see her, could feel her. She was flying towards him, bobbling in the air like she didn't know what she was doing. He saw no danger, but the command was there. He had to obey.

As he approached, she looked up and saw him. Instantly, horror crossed her face and she pointed past him, screaming. Reacting to the unspoken order, Chrno rolled, saw the fireball, and ducked it almost absently. It shot past him and he rolled again to see it was headed straight for Rosette. She flapped her wings madly, trying to get out of the way but only throwing herself around.

_You will do nothing to harm Rosette Christopher._

In that instant, everything within ten miles was frozen. Nothing in the air moved. Nothing on the ground. The fireball hung motionless in midair, bare meters away from the blonde girl who had her arms lifted to shield her face as she tried to turn away.

Chrno flew through the suddenly heavier air to Rosette's side. She was unharmed by the blast. Quickly, he scooped her up into his arms and flew her down to the ground. Settling her onto her feet with one hand on her arm to keep her from tipping over, he let go his hold on time. The fireball roared by overhead, racing out towards the ocean.

Rosette stumbled and flapped her wings for a few seconds more, trying to get her balance. Chrno studied her to make sure she was okay and then turned his head to study the sky. _Kill Aion_. He couldn't see him.

Rosette gaped at him. "Chrno? You're okay? You're okay!" She hugged him, but he didn't respond, looking with his eyes and his mind both for Aion. Rosette pulled back. "What are you doing? Hey? Hey! Answer me!"

She was a master. He had to obey. He looked into her blue eyes. "I will kill Aion."

Her jaw dropped. "W-what?"

She looked confused. He wasn't sure if his order towards her included emotional discomfort as well as physical damage. "I will do nothing to harm Rosette Christopher," he reminded her. Perhaps that would clear things up.

Apparently not. Her eyes filled with tears. "What's wrong with you?"

He shifted his wings a little. "I will kill Aion. I will do nothing to harm Rosette Christopher." He looked up at the sky. "I must find Aion." He went to launch himself into the air, but she grabbed his wrist with both her hands, her head bowed and tears falling to the ground. She was hurt. He had hurt her. He shifted again. Was he disobeying? His heart started to pound. Aion wasn't being killed, Rosette Christopher was harmed. He was disobeying. Pain lanced through his horns and he gasped, dropping to his knees.

"Chrno!" Rosette cried, throwing her arms around him.

He was disobeying. He could hear Pandemonium in his head, tearing him apart and putting him back together. He would obey, he had to obey. He screamed, agony shooting through him. He could hear her still, devouring him alive. He had to obey, but he couldn't. He didn't know where Aion was and Rosette was crying. His horns glowed, agony his punishment for his transgressions. He'd failed her, he'd failed her, he'd failed her…

Rosette gasped in shock as Chrno howled, his head thrown back and his hands clutching his horns. She could feel his pain, familiar as she was with his mind, and she could almost hear the voice beating in his brain.

Desperate, she threw her arms around him, trying to talk to him, but he couldn't hear her. His horns glowed, heating up, and she stared at them a moment before she grabbed the one on his left and wrenched down on it.

Chrno shrieked, his neck twisting around as she pulled on his horn, his arms coming toward her, trying to push her away. "Don't fight me!" she ordered and they pulled back, shaking. "Just let me…" She wrenched again, putting all of her strength into it, and felt the horn give just a bit. Adjusting her grip again while he sobbed, clinging to her, she pulled a third time and it snapped off just above the base, sending blood everywhere.

"It hurts!" he cried. "Stop it, it hurts!"

"I know," she whispered, rubbing his back as she held him against her. "I know it does. Hold on." Something about those horns was controlling him and she wasn't going to let it happen. Swapping arms, she grabbed his rightmost horn and kissed his cheek when he whimpered. They were both on their knees, clasping each other, and she felt his tears against her cheek as much as his blood while she braced herself. "This will only hurt for a minute, I promise."

She pulled, her lover screaming like he was being murdered. He didn't fight her at all, just hung on as she yanked on the horn as hard she could, a little more of it breaking away with each ruthless tug. Blood ran down it, slicking her grip, and it took five pulls before it broke away.

Chrno collapsed against her, gasping for breath. "Chrno!" she cried, pulling him up. There was so much blood. "Are you okay?" Of course he wasn't, she thought bitterly. She'd just crippled him… again. Bending over, she pressed her mouth against his and breathed astral into him. "Chrno! Are you okay?"

"R-Rosette?" he whimpered. "It hurts."

"I know," she mourned, stroking his cheek. "I'm sorry." He was lying in her arms, his head against her breast, and his blood was soaking her dress. Quickly, she pulled off her headdress and used it to bind his wounds.

"No." He swallowed and reached up to her. She took his hand and kissed it. "Better this way… she got into my head… I couldn't think…" A faint smile crossed his lips. "You have wings?"

"Yeah," she said smugly. "Nicer than yours even."

"…Definitely…"

His eyes closed, his breathing still ragged and she felt a pang, but he only seemed tired and in pain. Only? She huffed out a breath and reached over to drag one of the broken horns to her. "Where did you get these?"

"Pandemonium grew them… they're not my original ones…"

Meaning Joshua still had them. "What a bitch."

"…Yeah…"

"Watch your tone."

Rosette's head snapped up at the new voice to see Dafau standing a few metres away, his face enraged. He glared at Chrno with true hate in his eyes and lifted a sword. "You won't be allowed to fail us again."

In her lap, Chrno struggled dizzily to get up and Rosette glared at the demon. Even if she'd been armed, she'd seen Sacreds have no effect on him. He started forward, apparently planning to take Chrno's head off or something and she shifted her grip on the horn she held, lifted it, and threw.

It hit Dafau right in the centre of the chest and froze him, just like Joshua had done to the children at the orphanage.

"Wow," she managed. "I didn't expect that."

Chrno wheezed a laugh. "Yeah, well… it worked." Slowly, he sat up. "Thank you."

In answer, she glared at him. "Stop making me come to your rescue. You're such a damsel in distress."

"Yes, Rosette."

---000---

By the time the Order reached them, Rosette had reverted back to her usual shape and found enough blankets and material to make Chrno a mostly comfortable bed amongst the rubble, with half a wall for shade. He slept in his boy shape, twitching occasionally, while she helped human survivors who came out of the ruins to her, binding their wounds and sending them to find other people who hadn't been killed in the fight. Chrno she let sleep, if for no other reason than to keep him from seeing the aftermath of the battle. It wasn't his fault.

Dafau stayed frozen in the centre of the street, a look of perpetual surprise on his face.

Rosette straightened up as Sister Kate climbed over the rubble towards her. Most of her militia were gone, probably helping with the injured, and the older woman left the remaining behind as she came the last few feet. Rosette tensed, very aware that she stood between Kate and Chrno.

"You're alive," Kate said softly. "I was praying so."

"Yeah, well," Rosette ran a hand through her hair. "I'm tough to kill."

Kate looked past her at the sleeping Chrno. "Apparently he is as well."

The blonde's lip firmed. "They hurt him, tortured him. They were making him do things. I got him back and he's okay now." Except, even in his boy form, his temples wouldn't stop bleeding. She kept having to add to the bandages.

Kate was quiet a moment. "You're sure?" she asked at last.

"Yeah. It was these horns they put on him. Once I ripped them out, he was fine." She handed one to Kate and pointed over her shoulder at Dafau. "The other one's stuck in him. I think we should leave it there."

Kate looked at her evenly, leaving Rosette wondering what she was thinking. The nun had already proven she could make their lives pretty miserable. Finally, she sighed. "We'll talk about it later, after you give me your report. For now-" She gestured at the other militia and they came forward, bearing emergency supplies. Rosette sighed, smiled down at Chrno, and went to join them.

**THE END**

_To be continued… _

_I'm heading off for two weeks vacation, so the next story will be a while coming. See you then._


	11. Invalids

**INVALIDS**

By Hydraa

_I'm back for one day on my vacation and here's what I wrote on it. This takes place after "War". Rated R for violence and an ickle bit of fangirl service._

The house was small but cozy, the walls solid and thick. In the bedroom, a large bed stood before a crackling fireplace, where a bright blaze sent waves of heat into the room. Through the frosted window behind the bed, snow could be seen falling in the darkness.

He slept, dressed only in a thin pair of drawstring, cotton pants. The room was hot, the fire stoked high before his lover left, and he'd long since kicked the covers off and now sprawled indolently, his arms curled up around his head. He'd been asleep since before she built up the fire and she'd stood there for a while before heading out, just watching him. He was tall and lean, and the light of the fireplace danced across his naked skin as his chest rose and fell.

Chrno stirred slightly, tossing his head as he mumbled in his sleep. Along with the cotton pants, he had a length of gauze tied around his forehead and temples, to stop the intermittent bleeding from his temples. They didn't know _why_ he was bleeding, as it was in his full demon form that he had his horns ripped out, but he still bled in his human forms as well, whether boy or man. Exhausted and feverish, he could do nothing but convalesce and wait for it to pass.

It had been a long, delirious flight back from San Francisco to New York. He didn't remember a whole lot of what happened there, or really anything after they were attacked in Eden, but he didn't want to know. Whatever it was, it had been bad, but somehow it got them back with the Order. If Rosette hadn't been right by his side, he would have crashed out the side of the plane when he woke up and found Sister Kate looking down at him. However, now they were back and the Elder's old cottage, built on the land beside the Order where the ground wasn't sacred and his powers weren't limited, had been given to them both. Chrno was used to the place. The back storage room had been where he used to sleep, on a cot between sacks of potatoes. The main bedroom was much better, once Rosette burned the sheets and brought in new ones.

Feverish and sick from having his horns ripped out for the second time in his life, he rolled over, snoring softly and almost inaudibly. The fire crackled, so hot it raised a light sweat on his skin and he mumbled to himself, rubbing his cheek against the pillow. Burying his face in it, he wrapped his arms around it and relaxed again.

At the window, glowing red eyes peered in, assessing the situation. They looked at the sleeping demon, at the fire, and at the otherwise empty room. Sure that the Sinner was the only one there, they withdrew.

A moment later, the side wall blew in. Chrno had a moment to think _not again_ and then he was rolling on the floor, nearly ending up in the fire before he scrambled to his feet and sprinted out the door, moving on a wave of pure adrenaline.

"Failed us, Sinner gigigi," Kalv laughed, his pig face breathing in. "Die this time." He exhaled and flame blew out his nose, engulfing the bedroom and streaking into the living room after his target.

Chrno bolted out the door, into the freezing, snowy night. There was no way he could fight back. He could barely maintain his adult form, let alone go to demon or use his astral in any way. It he hadn't been scared out of his mind, he wouldn't even have been able to run, but as it was, he didn't feel the frozen snow under his bare feet as he sprinted across the yard. The cottage was built near the wall of the Order and Rosette had said she'd leave the wrought iron gate unlocked, just in case he was feeling well enough to come to supper. If not, she'd bring him something later.

Hopefully, that would mean she'd be in the dinner hall, as that was closest. Already gasping, Chrno slammed into the gate, one hand fumbling for the latch in the dark as Kalv rose up above the burning cottage behind him.

"Can't run! Gigigi. Can feel how sick you are. Won't get away."

Chrno's head was pounding in agreement with that as he managed to release the latch and the gate swung open. He fell through with it, swinging around on unsteady feet to look back the way he'd come, and nearly threw up as he felt what little energy he had suddenly diminish from the protections built into the Order. Kalv was only twenty feet away, inhaling again.

He ran out of the gateway and flames filled it. Choking, he sprinted through the ankle deep snow as fast as he could, trying to blink it out of his eyes and see the way to the Order's buildings. Kalv crashed through the wall behind him, hesitating as he felt the wards act against him.

Chrno kept running. It was dark, cold, and he was freezing, his feet feeling like blocks of ice as he stumbled and went down, soaking himself in the snow before he managed to get back up. His ears were ringing and he expected to get turned into a pillar of flame at any second.

No, it wasn't his ears. The bells of the church were pealing out a frantic warning and he saw shapes appear at the lighted windows and doors, men and women running outside carrying weapons.

"Don't shoot me!" he gasped, his voice barely a whisper. "Please! Help!" Stumbling again, he reached the frozen steps to the mess hall and people started racing past him. Catching himself as he fell against the first step, he looked up to see Rosette. She was holding a machine gun and looked furious. Just the sight of her made Chrno want to collapse and let her deal with everything.

"Get inside," she ordered, swatting him on the backside as she passed to get him moving.

The order was an absolute to his tired mind. Coughing, Chrno dragged himself up the stairs, lunged to his feet, and banged through the double doors into the interior.

It was blessedly, wonderfully warm. Chrno took two steps in and crumpled to his knees, his pants soaked through, his hair wet, and his bare chest heaving. Everything was deathly silent and he looked up.

No less than fifty girls, all young nuns and novices, stared at him from the long mess tables. Every one had huge eyes and red cheeks. A few had their mouths hanging open. Chrno stared back, confused, and then looked down at himself, remembering belatedly that wet cotton turned transparent and he wasn't wearing anything underneath.

"Oh, sorry," he mumbled and pitched over sideways, fainting.

All of the women rushed to help.

---000---

Rosette was pissed. "Who do they think they are?" she ranted as she tucked in the covers, tugging on them rather harder than she had to. "Do they really think it takes fifty girls to check one man for breathing? I could see you were breathing from the doorway! And taking off your pants?? I don't care how wet they were! I didn't see any of them trying to put a blanket over you!"

Turning, she grabbed a bottle off a tray on the nightstand and poured a large dollop onto a spoon. "Open," she snapped and shoved it into Chrno's dutifully wide mouth. "Swallow." He did and nearly choked on the cod liver taste. Tossing it onto the tray while she continued to rant, she handed him a pill and a glass of water. "And _now_ we _all_ have to go to some bloody sermon on the sin of lust! Can you believe it? Take the pill." He did, sipping some water afterwards. "Show me." He opened his mouth and lifted his tongue. "Good boy. I mean, really. Why do I have to go??"

"Probably because you're the one sleeping with the object of lust in question?" Remington asked from the next bed, amused.

"That's for health reasons!" she retorted and spun on Chrno. "Do you need to go to the bathroom?" He shook his head. "Are you warm enough?" He nodded. "Can you survive without me for an hour?" He smiled. "How are your Astral levels?" Instead of waiting for an answer, she grabbed his face and pressed her mouth against his, breathing energy into his mouth. Done, she kissed his forehead. "Get some sleep. Once this stupid sermon is over, I'll talk to Kate about having them find a place for you off the Order's grounds again. You're safer here, but I don't like what the wards do to you when you're sick." Straightening, she spun on Remington. "You keep an eye on him. If he has any problems, you send for me, got it?"

"Yes, ma'am!" he answered with a salute.

Rosette sniffed and swept out of the room.

Remington grinned and looked at his new roommate. "She's bossy when she's angry, isn't she?"

"I know," he sighed. "It's easier to just go along with it."

"I know I would. Sometimes that woman scares me."

The priest chuckled and even Chrno managed a smile. The two men were now sharing a room in the male barracks, one barely large enough to hold two single beds and a nightstand for each. Two wardrobes stood against the wall at the foot of the beds, the doorway between them. It was near the boiler and therefore warmer than most of the rooms, as well as being near the main doors so they'd be easy to check on. That made it somewhat noisier, but the men of the Order tended to be a quiet type anyway.

"Why are you in here anyway?" Chrno asked wearily.

The priest shrugged. "My leg's really acting up. Kate thought it was best I rest for a few days." He grinned. "She yells more than Rosette does."

"I didn't think that was possible." The demon paused. "Rosette broke your leg, didn't she?"

"Yeah. In four places. She already apologized." Remington glared down at the leg underneath the covers. "I just wish it wouldn't take so long to heal."

"Why is it? You're a young guy. It should be better by now."

"Oh, just unlucky I guess."

Chrno nodded, letting his eyes close without questioning him anymore. He was tired and really just wanted to sleep. He started to doze.

"Hey, Chrno."

Slowly, he opened his eyes and turned his head to see the priest looking at him intently. "Yes?"

"Is that your natural form?" Chrno blinked, confused. "I know you're really a demon, but when you turn into a human, is that what you always look like? I mean, I can see the boy you in your face, just older."

"Oh." Chrno closed his eyes. "Yeah, I always look the same. I can't take on any other shape. My demon face looks like this too, only more demony." He opened his eyes again. "Why?"

"You look familiar." Remington frowned. "I've seen your face before. I just can't think where." He shrugged and lay back. "It doesn't matter. It'll come to me eventually."

Chrno stared at him for a moment, but the priest seemed to be sleeping. Finally, he settled down again.

"Chrno?"

"Yes?" he sighed.

"How old are you?"

He looked at him again. "Why? This isn't about me sleeping with a seventeen-year-old girl, is it?"

"No." Again with the wicked grin. "Lots of guys want to do that. I just want to know how old you are."

Chrno closed his eyes deliberately. "About a hundred years, give or take. I can't give you an exact number. Okay?"

"Okay."

"Can I sleep now?"

"Sure. Sleep tight, Chrno."

Chrno did, dropping off almost immediately. Remington stayed awake for a while longer, watching him and thinking.

---000---

Rosette swept into the room, waking them both when she turned on the light.

"We're heading out! That pig demon showed up again downtown. We're going after him." Dazed, Chrno started to climb out of bed. "Not you." She shoved him back. "Does he have any weaknesses we should know about?"

"Urgh," Chrno managed, trying to think. "He's one of the deadliest fighters in Pandemonium? He doesn't really have any weaknesses."

"Then a hail of Gospels it is. Teach him to go after my boyfriend." She rubbed her hands together and pulled Chrno up into a sitting position. Grabbing his pillows, she punched them into a more reasonable shape and pushed him down again. "I don't know how long we'll be gone. Kate's taking just about everyone. This guy's nasty."

Chrno looked at her worriedly. Her eyes were gleaming, just like they always did at the prospect of battle. "Are you sure I can't come?" he asked. "You never go into a fight without me. I can stay in the car…"

She smiled and swept back his hair to kiss his forehead, right over the gauze. Then she started to unroll it. "You're the one he's after and you're in no shape to go anywhere." She finished unrolling the gauze and made a face. "You're still bleeding. What's up with that?"

"I don't know," he groused, taking a deep breath. "I don't want you to go. Not without me."

Rosette paused, looking at him in surprise. "What?"

"I don't want you to go. I'm telling you not to go."

He expected her to laugh at him, or hit him on the head and yell at him. Telling _her_ what to do wasn't something he normally ever did. Instead, she moved his hair again and gently rebrushed her lips across his forehead.

"Chrno," she whispered. "Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. I know what I'm doing. I know you're scared, but you don't have to be." She flashed him a smile. "And if you try and tell me what to do again, I'll feed you your wings. Got it?"

Chrno sighed, cringing. "Got it."

She cleaned and rebound his injuries, chattering on about how she was going to stop the demon personally while she did. Chrno was quiet throughout it, but as she finished, she kissed his mouth, breathing astral into him.

"I'll be back," she promised him softly. "I'll always come back to you." She kissed him for real on the mouth and he leaned into it, craving her touch, but she pushed forward, forcing him back into the bed. "Get some sleep. I'll be back by morning." Straightening, she swept out of the room.

Remington looked over at him appraisingly. "That went well. At least she didn't spank you."

"Oh, shut up," Chrno grumbled and rolled over so his back was to him.

---000---

Chrno woke up to darkness. The lights were out, the window shadowy with night. Fuzzy, he tried to think what had woken him. His head was a dull ache and his arm was cold where the blanket didn't cover it. He grabbed it, pulling it closer, and tried to sleep again, only now he was thinking of Rosette and he rolled over with a sigh, wondering where she was. If she was okay. If she was coming back soon.

Remington gasped from the other bed, something huge and malformed misshaping the blankets that covered him.

Startled, Chrno scrambled for the bedside lamp. It came on and he squinted his eyes nearly shut at the light, staring. Remington lay on his back, the bottom of his bed seemingly three feet higher and throbbing.

"Remington?" he gasped. "What?"

"Go back to sleep, Chrno," the priest hissed. "That's an order."

"You're not my master," Chrno told him automatically and pushed his covers back so he could get up. "What's wrong?"

"Go away, Chrno!"

Chrno ignored him. Remington didn't have the absoluteness that he craved from a master. There was too much pleading in his voice. The demon walked closer and pulled the blankets back.

Remington's broken leg was swollen with legions, malformed and free of its shattered cast. Rudimentary limbs were trying to grow out of it, waving stupidly at the air, and the whole thing was distorted, misshapen like the worst of the clutches Chrno had seen in Pandemonium.

"What the hell?" he gasped. "What happened to you??" Rosette broke his leg. Where in the world did he get legions from and why were they so out of control? "Who did this to you?"

The priest shuddered, his face tight with pain. "No one… It's an old injury. The Elder…" He winced. "He used legions… to save my life…"

Like Chrno did for Rosette, infecting her with legions through his seed. "The Elder had you sleep with a demon?" he asked, confused.

Remington managed a choked laugh. "No… he used his machines… to strip them of evil… changed them so they would keep my body functioning…"

Except now the Elder was gone. Rosette had said that Sister Kate banished him after he attacked her. Chrno bit his lip, glad the old bastard was gone but not knowing what to do. "He stripped them of evil?" he repeated, not really understanding that.

"Yes… changed their mission… ordered them to work with my body… only it wears off… he uses astral infusions… to stop them from taking over…"

Chrno's eyes widened in shock. The Elder _reprogrammed_ legions to heal Remington?? How could he do that? It took Shader's best computers to reset a legion and the Elder did it with the backward technologies that humans had come up with?

"Wow," he managed. "Shader would really want to meet him, if she could keep from killing him."

Remington raised an eyebrow. His face was soaked with sweat and Chrno grabbed a cloth from the nightstand to wipe it dry. "She's that dangerous?"

"No, she's a pussycat." He thought about that particular pun and winced. "She never hurt anyone before that I know of. But if Elder grabbed her, I think she'd make an exception." Remington coughed a laugh and Chrno bent over him worriedly. "What can I do?"

"Don't know," Remington gasped. "The Elder was the only one who knew how to use the machines."

Chrno looked down at the leg. It was mutating further, a mouth opening and closing somewhere near the knee. It had obviously been trying to heal the leg, but without guidance, it was out of control. The Elder's machines obviously gave it that control, since Remington wasn't a demon and didn't have access to them himself. Normally they would have just died off, but since he'd changed them, that fail-safe was no longer working.

Yes, Shader would have loved to talk to the Elder about how he managed that.

Chrno shuddered and looked at the priest who was his friend. "Where do I find the Elder?" he asked quietly.

---000---

It was freezing cold, the snow still falling as it had all day. Shuddering, Chrno flew heavily across the city, his wings aching as they beat at the night air, his gut churning and his head throbbing. His vision felt weird as well, but he forced himself to keep going, heading for the ghetto areas of Brooklyn. Remington was pretty sure the Elder would be at a little apartment he kept there. It was where he took women he hired or convinced to come with him. With his home at the Order lost to him, he was probably there, along with his machines.

Fuzzily, the demon wondered why Remington didn't say anything when the Elder was banished. Maybe he didn't want anyone to know about his ailment or what he did to survive. Maybe he felt bad that the Elder got away with so much for so long, and how he'd let it happen so that he could survive. Chrno sighed. The second sounded likely. The first as well. The priest had sworn him to secrecy about what was happening to him. He didn't really blame the man either.

Now if only he wasn't so tired. His legs crossed at the ankles and his arms wrapped around his body, he flew heavily, hating every minute of it. He was getting snow in his eyes and he was wet, the cold settling into his wings and joints. Remington would die if he didn't get help though, and even if he had the Elder's machines, he didn't know how to work them. The Elder was the only one who knew how they operated, and he'd used them on Remington for decades.

He wasn't much of a judge of human aging, but he hadn't realized the priest was that old.

Chrno banked, headed along the street Remington had told him to follow. The air was too cold to glide; he had to flap his wings the entire way. He wished Rosette was there, with her crazy driving and her smile. She'd probably yell at him, make him go back to bed, and go collect the Elder herself. At least she knew how to drive. Chrno didn't have the faintest idea of how to get those things to work. He wasn't a technophobe, but the idea of trying to control something that was moving at high speed worried him. Or maybe Rosette's driving just scared him too much to try it himself.

He found he was worrying about her again and forced himself to focus on his current situation again before he turned around and went looking for her. Rosette could take care of herself; Remington needed him and they both owed him. Rosette would be dead now if he hadn't told them how to use his legions to help her.

Briefly, he wondered if he could do the same thing for Remington and shoved that thought away with a blush. Rosette would _kill_ him.

Either that or she'd make popcorn and watch. He wasn't sure. No, he was sure. She'd kill him.

Laboriously, Chrno flew over the run down tenements, his head aching so badly he wanted to vomit. The leather he wore was cold and he wished he'd been able to grab a coat before he left, but he hardly had one that would fit over his wings. He could have taken a cab, but he had no money. Flying was the only way.

Ahead, he saw the white on red paint of an old fire house that Remington told him to look for. An abandoned park laid next to it, full of dead weeds and broken glass, and beyond that the expanse of several old apartment buildings. They looked like they should have been condemned decades before and the demon wondered what made the Elder keep a place in one even before he'd been banished. He wasn't sure he wanted to know.

The Elder's apartment was in the one coloured the yellow of earwax, on the corner, on the third floor. Chrno flew towards it heavily, nauseated and slow. He was having trouble keeping his legs straight in the air behind him and they dragged as he came to an awkward landing on the fire escape.

For a minute, all he could do was hang on to the freezing metal of the railing and wait for his head to stop spinning. He could feel blood trickling down from under his bandages and his astral levels were dwindling. He needed Rosette to replenish them for him and she could only breathe out so much at a time. Just being in demon form was draining. He had to be careful how far he pushed himself or he wouldn't be able to get back to the Order.

His head finally settling down, though his stomach still wanted to rebel, Chrno folded his aching wings and lurched over to the window, looking in. The light was on inside and he expected to see the Elder working on one of his crazy projects. He'd done that a lot when Chrno slept in his back room, usually keeping him awake in the process.

He didn't expect to see a woman tied spread-eagled to a bed, naked.

Chrno blinked and rubbed his eyes before looking back in. Yep, there was a woman there. She was gagged as well, her eyes closed. Chrno shivered and tried to think what to do. He needed the Elder's help, but he might not want to be disturbed. Chrno knew if _he'd _been the one tied to the bed and Rosette was coming in, he wouldn't want anyone disturbing him for any reason. Just the thought sent a little tingle through him and he wondered how to suggest it to her without getting smacked. The Elder though… Chrno could see tears in the edge of that girl's eyes. Somehow, he wasn't sure she was so willing.

Forcing nausea down, Chrno shifted into his man form and tried the window. It was unlocked and he opened it, climbing in. Immediately, the woman's eyes turned towards him, wide with fright. Chrno put a finger to his lips, crossing to her side.

"Do you need help?" he whispered. "Do you want me to untie you?" Now that he was inside, he could hear a man singing badly in the other room. The woman nodded frantically, her eyes huge with sudden hope, and Chrno untied her. She scrambled to her feet and wrapped one of the sheets around her. It wasn't much protection against the cold coming in through the window though.

"Thank you," she told him quietly, eyes shooting towards the door. "That freak paid me to come up here, but I never agreed to this and he wouldn't let me ago."

Chrno grimaced, wishing he just killed the man when he went after Rosette. "Here," he said roughly, pulling off his coat to hand to the woman. He wouldn't have access to it in demon form anyway. "Go down the fire escape." She took the coat gratefully and hurried out the window. Chrno didn't envy her bare feet, but at least she was free. Once she was gone, he shuddered back into his demon form and sat on the edge of the bed. He would have burst through the door dramatically instead, but he just didn't have the energy.

He didn't have to wait long. Barely two minutes after the woman escaped, the door opened and the Elder skipped in, carrying a bucket with a wine bottle in it and a single glass. He wore his usual goggles to hide his eyes, but the only other thing he had on was a leather codpiece with spikes along it. He smelled filthy.

"Here I am, my dear!" he started and stopped.

Chrno growled.

The Elder shrieked and ran, tossing the wine bucket at him. Chrno knocked it out of the way, only getting a few cubes of ice in the face, and forced himself to run after him, wings tucked close to his body.

The old man was on the other side of the dirty, overly cluttered living room, fighting with the locks on the door. Chrno half ran, half flew across it and grabbed him by the shoulder, throwing him back into the room. The man crashed into a series of boxes, sending them and the components inside them flying, and rolled, vanishing for a second. He'd been wearing carpet slippers along with the codpiece, Chrno realised.

"Listen to me," he said. "I need you to-"

Before he could finish, the Elder bounced back to his feet, swinging an arm wide before himself with a vial in his hand, and holy water sprayed across Chrno's bare chest and abdomen.

The demon shrieked. The holy water burned, smoke curling up as he jumped backwards, nearly putting himself through the wall, and slapped at the water, burning his hands but managing to get it off his skin before it ate through. He thudded to his knees, choking, and looked up to see the Elder standing a few feet away, pointing a pistol loaded with Sacreds at him.

"Ah, shit…"

"Did you think I'd be that easy to get rid of?" the Elder raged. "I've been killing your kind for half a century."

Chrno took a deep breath, one hand up non-threateningly as he tried to stand, bracing himself on a box that ruptured under his weight, spilling him and a bunch of photographs to the ground. "Wait!" he yelped, landing on his burns. "Remington's dying!"

The Elder's eyebrow rose and he didn't fire. "What?"

"Father Remington," Chrno gasped. "His legions are out of control. Do you think I'd be here if I didn't need your help?"

The pistol lowered slightly. Chrno would have gone for it and continued negotiating when the man wasn't in a position to kill him, but he felt sicker than ever. His breath rasped loudly in the overcrowded room.

"He said… he said you have a machine that regulates the legions… you have to help him."

The Elder frowned. "Ewan sent you?"

Chrno nodded desperately. "There wasn't anyone else. He didn't want anyone to know."

"The idiot," he muttered. "He could have prevented all of this if he wasn't so damned noble. Just cause I grabbed a little bit…" Chrno growled at that and he aimed the pistol at him again. "Don't you start. Where did I put that thing?" He started hunting through the boxes, searching.

Chrno sagged, head and wings bowing. Soon, this miserable muck up of a night would be over and he could go back to bed. Shivering, he rubbed his arms and looked down at the pictures that had come out of the box.

They were photographs of women. Suddenly, Chrno felt a cold that had nothing to do with the temperature or his illness. The girls in the photographs were young, staring at the camera with expressions that were anything but happy. Many of them were bound, most of them were in pain, all of them were obscene. Trembling, he touched the pile, sweeping deeper, and saw the young nuns of the Order, photos taken of them obviously without their knowledge. He saw Sisters Mary, Anne, and Claire in the showers, saw Azmaria getting dressed, saw Rosette…

Rosette…

The Elder was turning with a square box covered in dials in his hand, just in time to see Chrno roar and come for him. Screaming, he dropped the machine and fired. Chrno had no idea if he hit or missed. He slammed into the old man with all his weight, claws slashing like scimitars, tail whip stabbing repeatedly. He tore the horrid old man apart, howling at the image of his beautiful Rosette in his mind. Rosette in her innocence, sleeping so deeply that nothing could wake her, not even a dirty old man sneaking into her room and pulling up her shift to… He razed the body until there was nothing left and he was covered head to toe in gore. Then he crawled away and was violently sick for a long time.

Finally, Chrno roused a bit, fighting for focus. He was ill, he was running low on astral, and he still had to get that machine back to Remington and figure out how to use it before he ran out completely. Shuddering, he dragged himself into the bathroom and turned on the shower, turning it completely to hot before he crawled in fully clothed and let the water wash the blood off of him. It boiled a bit of the sickness out of him as well and he felt his mind clear a bit at last.

He'd killed the Elder, murdered him like he hadn't since he fled Pandemonium with Aion, when he ripped a thousand demons apart in a moment of madness. The Order would destroy him if they knew. Rosette…

He couldn't ever let her know.

Shuddering, Chrno climbed out of the shower and back into the main room, careful not to step in the blood as he made his way back to the machine the Elder had been carrying. It was heavy but neatly labelled and Chrno bit his lip, hoping he could work it. For Remington's sake, he had to. He stumbled with it over to the window and forced himself to look back.

The room looked like an abattoir, the walls and floor almost completely covered in gore. Chrno threw up again and opened the window, gasping at the cold air against his wet skin and clothes. He climbed halfway out, the machine tucked under his arm, and turned back, focusing.

Power flashed out of his outstretched hand and the room burst into flame, centred on the body and that box of pictures he wished he'd never found. The rest of the room whooshed and caught as well, spreading with shocking speed. He had to leap out, wings spreading into the frigid air, and fight for altitude, the cold already freezing him through his wet clothes. For a moment, he was afraid he'd doomed everyone in the building to a fiery death, but people were already coming out, yelling, and he heard bells ringing. He'd forgotten that the apartment was next to a firehouse.

Shuddering, he turned and flew in the direction of the Order, his agony a penance for his deeds.

---000---

Remington looked up wearily as Chrno stumbled into the door and his eyes widened. "Good God, you look like you're half dead."

"Feel it," Chrno gasped, dropping to his knees beside the bed. His hair was frozen and there were parts of his body he just couldn't feel anymore from the frostbite. His astral was at almost nothing, but he'd been able to sense the militia wasn't back yet when he came in for a landing. "The Elder… gave me the box… and left. Said… rude things." He took a deep breath, too tired for a good lie. "Set the place on fire too." He didn't look at the priest while he said it, unfolding the antennas on the box and unpacking the hoses. "You know… how to use this…?"

"Sort of." Remington forced himself up, wincing. His leg was even worse, red lines running up from his hip into his torso and appearing at his neck. Eyeballs followed the lines, blinking stupidly. "You'll have to help me."

He told the demon what to do, how to hook the hoses up to his spine and how to turn the machine on, setting it to flush astral through the man's body to counter the effects of the legions. Chrno did just what he was told, letting himself drift into a fugue state where he didn't have to think at all, just act. It was so much easier there. He wasn't sure when the box started to do its work, though he saw the faces and extra limbs reabsorbing, fading away. It didn't mean much to him. By then, he didn't have to help at all and the floor felt so comfortable and cool. He dozed on it, feeling warm at last, and shifted to his boy form, finally letting himself relax.

He was completely gone when the box did its work enough for Remington to unhook it and get out of bed, his leg healed. He knelt beside the small form and felt his forehead, swearing most unprofessionally at the temperature before he scooped the demon into his arms and ran out the door, yelling for help.

---000---

"How the hell could you let this happen??" Rosette screeched.

"Rosette, language!"

"Stuff it, Kate! Father, I told you to watch him! Look at him, he's burning up!"

"Rosette, he'll be fine."

"How?? You've got him in a bathtub full of ice!"

"That's the quickest way to bring his fever down."

Chrno felt cold. Shivering, he opened his eyes to find he was indeed lying in a bathtub, wrapped in a sheet with ice cubes piled around him. They were what was making him so cold, but his forehead still felt hot.

"Rosette?" he whispered.

Immediately, she leaned over him, her eyes wide with relief. "Chrno? Are you okay?"

He smiled at her. "I am now."

"Oh, thank God." She pressed her mouth against him, exhaling enough astral that he nearly choked. "I've been breathing into you since I got back," she told him, "but you were so sick you hardly took any of it. I've been so scared." Her eyes were wet with tears and he longed to touch her, but his arms were bound into the sheet. He would have been frightened by that, but he could smell his Rosette and relaxed into the icy tub instead like it was the gentlest of feather mattresses.

"Did you get Kalv?" he whispered, his mind opening to her. She felt it and her own mind embraced his lovingly. He sighed, content.

"No," she groused. "The creep made us jump around most of the night and then just vanished. We don't know where he is."

"Mm," Chrno said noncommittally, relaxing against the edge of the tub, eyes closing. Remington said something about him being moved soon, but he didn't care. So long as he could smell Rosette and feel her mind touching his, he was happy. He dozed, slipping into sleep…

…and started awake as he saw the Elder again, torn into bloody chunks thrown across the apartment.

"Chrno??" Rosette gasped as he started to weep. "Chrno! What's wrong??"

**THE END  
**

_Yeah, yeah, more coming… I wasn't expecting him to pull the ginsu act on the Elder and it took a while to figure out where to go next. I nearly rewrote that scene, but I have some ideas. The next story is going to be very difficult to write, at least to pull off what I want the way I want. Tentatively, it's titled 'Miracle.'_

_I don't know when it will be out. As of today, there's a solid chance my unit will deploy (I'm military, obviously). I won't be able to post if it does._

_Review, please._


	12. Miracle

**MIRACLE**

By Hydraa

_This is the sequel to "Invalids". Rated R for adult content. No action in this one, it's more of an introspective piece._

---000---

It was still snowing. Rosette Christopher propped her chin on her hand and stared out the window, wondering if it would ever stop and let spring return. She grimaced, glaring at her reflection and the two little horns on her temples, poking up against the fabric of her headdress.

"Sister Rosette!" At the voice, her head snapped back around. The lecture hall was full, the other novices staring at her. A few were smiling. The old woman teaching the class didn't look amused at all though. "This is not a time for daydreaming," she snapped. "Return your attention to your studies!"

Rosette thought of making a reply, but just huffed out a breath and looked down at her book again. Bible studies. Hours and hours of bible studies, every day, even Saturday. She hated it. She understood the importance of what she was reading, she certainly did, but she hated to be cooped up. She glanced at the window again. Then again, it wasn't like anyone could go out there.

She looked at the clock. Two more hours to go. The other novices were deep in their reading and the discussion. They enjoyed the class, but then again, all of them wanted to be nuns. She… sort of did. Except for the whole temperance for life and poverty thing. And the celibacy. There was definitely no way she was going to swear to the celibacy. Not with the six feet of sexy demon lying in her bed waiting for her with his smouldering red eyes and tight little…

Rosette huffed out another breath. That was not a good direction to think on right now. Besides, it wasn't like she was actually getting any lately. Sister Kate thought she was. _She_ thought Rosette was still dependent on Chrno's legions to survive, though thanks to the machines on Eden, she generated her own legions now. Kate didn't know that. If she had, Rosette was pretty sure that she wouldn't be allowed within ten feet of her oh-so-sinful demon lover.

Yes, Kate thought she was getting lots, thanks to Rosette bouncing on her bed whenever she thought the woman or one of her spies was in earshot and moaning loudly, with a few shrieks tossed in for interest's sake. Kate's imagination was getting more of a workout than she was though.

Chrno hadn't changed out of his boy form in almost two weeks. Rosette had been patient. He'd been badly hurt in the battles on Eden and against Aion, and she _had_ ripped his horns out. He'd been pretty sick as a result as well. But he hadn't been running a fever for seven days and he was eating most everything she brought him. They'd even got the cottage fixed up enough that they could sleep out there without the wards from the Order weakening them both. But he wouldn't change, and he wouldn't touch her, and when she asked about it, he just said he wasn't feeling good.

Rosette was starting to feel positively pissy about the whole thing.

Maybe he was depressed. Sex should snap him out of that. Maybe he was still sick. Sex should get his blood flowing again. Maybe he was bored. Sex should… she blew out another breath, seeing where this line of thought was going. She was starting to miss the time he went into rut and couldn't get enough. Yeah, she'd been sore after awhile, but at least she got some. Crap, maybe this was a demon thing.

Could demons become impotent?

She was musing on that horrible thought when she realized the nun was yelling at her again. "What?" she snapped. "Can't you see I'm busy??"

It was the wrong thing to say.

---000---

She never got to sit down in Sister Kate's office. The chair looked comfortable. Sort of. Certainly better than standing there in front of her desk watching the woman try to get that one vein to settle down on her forehead.

"Sister Brenda says you weren't paying attention in class," she told her coldly.

Rosette tried not to fidget. "Oh, yes, well, just distracted today, Sister Kate. Sorry, it won't happen again." She beamed at her.

The nun's brow twitched. "Apparently you weren't paying attention yesterday, or the day before. You slept through morning prayers and you peeled a bag of potatoes into the bin and threw the scrapings into the soup pot."

"Oh, um, yes, well, um…"

"Are you feeling alright?" Kate asked. "Are you sleeping well? Are your… legions… all right?" She looked positively pained. "Chrno is servicing you as required?"

Rosette gaped at her and blushed. "Oh, yes, definitely. All the time!" She grinned again. Kate looked vaguely nauseous and she resisted the urge to glare at her. She was just jealous.

"Then what is the problem?"

"Um. I'm worried about my brother. And Azmaria." That was a good one. She hadn't tried that one in a while.

"Usually concern over your brother has you running off on your own and nearly getting killed," the nun pointed out.

"I just… don't know where to look." That was true. "I feel so helpless!" That was true as well. Damn, now she was both horny and depressed. Life sucked. Maybe she should try shaking that Las Vegas dress at him. He liked that dress.

Kate frowned, leaning back in her chair. "You've been through a lot," she said, reading Rosette didn't know what in her face. "A tremendous amount, all without a chance to take a break and reflect. Perhaps that's what you should do."

Rosette stared at her. "Huh?"

"I'm sending you on vacation, Rosette. Take a week off. Try not to blow anything up."

Rosette stared at her for another moment, her mouth hanging open. Then her brain caught up with the rest of her and she bolted out of the office before the nun could change her mind.

Kate sighed and went back to her paperwork, wondering if the girl would even get out of her bedroom.

---000---

Rosette sprinted across the snowy ground, uncaring of how much the Order's wards drained her. She was free, free as a bird, she didn't have to pray or nothing, no more potatoes, and she was going to get laid if she had to order Chrno to strip and hang on.

Cutting across a snow covered flower bed, she went though a wrought iron gate set in a wall and immediately the wards loosened their pull on her. She just ran faster, racing to a little cobbled cottage under a rather singed looking apple tree. The light was on inside and she could see smoke coming from the chimney. Chrno was there. Of course he was there, where else was he going to go? He better be naked…

Rosette crashed through the door and slammed it behind her, knocking a vase off a shelf with a crash. "I'm home!" she shrieked, stripping off her boots and scarf and heading for the bedroom. And here she thought she'd be stuck at the Order for hours yet.

She ran into the room with its brand new, still smelling of paint wall, and stopped. Chrno was sitting in the corner between the bed and the wall, still in boy form, his arms wrapped around his knees. He blinked up at her in surprise, his face wet with tears.

It was like getting hit in the head with a bucket of ice water, bucket first. "What's wrong?" she gasped plaintively, but he was scrubbing his eyes with his sleeve and squirreling out of his corner like nothing had happened.

"You're back early," he said brightly. "I w-wasn't expecting you. I'll make tea." He tried to hurry past her into the main room, but Rosette grabbed his arm. Suddenly, her own desire was the last thing in her mind.

"What's wrong?" she repeated.

He wouldn't even look at her. "Nothing." Pulling his arm free, he vanished towards the kitchen.

Rosette stared after him, completely baffled.

---000---

Chrno woke the morning Rosette found him the same way he had all week; hours before dawn and shaking from nightmares. He could still feel his claws tearing into the Elder, feel his spike tail stabbing again and again. He could smell the man's blood, taste it where it splattered over his face and mouth, and it kept shocking him awake, wanting to scream.

Instead he would lie awake and stare at the ceiling. For the first few days, he did that until dawn, growing more and more tired but unable to sleep again; after that he got up and went into the other room to distract himself from what was lying beside him.

Chrno turned his head, looking at the young woman in the bed with him. Rosette was lying on her back with her mouth wide open, snoring loudly and drooling. He stared at her in the dark with his demon eyes and saw again the photo the Elder had kept, of her lying like that, only he was… Chrno closed his eyes. He didn't want to see her that way. He didn't want to look at her and see that image, but it kept coming back, like a sickness inside him, making him want to vomit. He loved her so much; the Elder was dead, he'd killed him and he hated himself for it. He shouldn't still have to see her like that.

Not able to stay there, he slipped out of bed and padded into the other room, his long braid swinging against his naked back. He hadn't changed into his adult form since it happened. He knew Rosette wanted to be with him, but he was terrified of touching her and remembering, of losing control to the rage, or worse, losing desire. If she found out… she didn't need to know. _He_ didn't know exactly what had happened from that one photograph, but his imagination was driving him mad. Whatever it was, it hadn't been innocent and it hadn't been his Rosette's fault

Chrno padded into the living room and turned on the light, not worried about waking her. Rosette could sleep through anything. Crossing to the old, overstuffed chair beside the window, he curled into it and grabbed his book. It was the only one in the cottage and Rosette didn't read it unless she was doing homework, but he'd been slogging his way through it every night for days. It took a lot of focus, to understand the words and the concepts both. He wasn't a very good reader at all and the small print made his eyes ache. It calmed his mind though, diverted his dark thoughts, and made him feel quieter inside. It didn't lance the infection he could feel in his soul, but it made it more bearable.

Chrno sighed and opened the bible to the page he'd marked the night before. Squinting at the tiny text, he started to read, his lips moving as he worked to sound out the unfamiliar words.

Before Rosette's alarm went off at dawn, he was back in the bed beside her, still unable to sleep but dozing, one arm draped over her.

---000---

After Rosette left for the Order and her duties, he wandered around the cottage, cleaning it. He was on light duty, his horns still bleeding in his demon form. He was okay as a boy, and he assumed as a man, but the blood in his true shape had them worried. It rather worried him. He'd bled insanely after the first pair were torn out, nearly dying from blood loss before Mary created the Contract to save his life. She hadn't told him, but he'd figured out later that he took most of her life force to heal himself that first time. There'd been a lot she hadn't told him; if he'd known the Contract would kill her, he would have refused it, if he could. Pandemonium had owned his mind since his hatching. Aion had slunk his way in over years, slowly drawing him away from her to join him. Mary had cut those ties, deliberately he thought now, breaking Aion's hold on him without fully taking over herself, though certainly he had done what she wanted. She just set him up for Rosette to come along with her candy and her pigtails and blow every bit of self determination right out of him. He'd been hers from the instant he saw her, and he wondered if Mary had known it would be that way.

If it was or if it wasn't, Rosette didn't have the energy reserves to heal him in one go, not from broken horns. It would take time, and until it did and they could recap the fragments that were left, he wasn't supposed to do anything strenuous. Rosette was afraid he'd get sick again. He didn't want to argue with her the point that he got sick because he went flying into the snow and came back soaking wet. That would lead to revelations he didn't want to make.

Thinking about it brought it all back and he almost dropped the plate he was washing. He killed the Elder, tore his limbs off and threw them across the room, sliced his throat open to where he could see bone…

Chrno bent over the sink, heaving. Why was he like this? He'd killed a thousand demons, torn them apart without thinking or worrying about it. Certainly without any regret. He'd helped Rosette kill dozens over the course of their career together. Why was this so different? He'd killed for Pandemonium, he'd killed for Aion, he would have killed for Mary if she hadn't died, and he killed for Rosette. He'd been known as Aion's sword for years. He was a demon, a destroyer. Why did this time matter so much?

Because every other time he'd killed, he'd been ordered to.

Chrno stumbled weeping across the cottage into the bedroom and crawled into the corner between the bed and the wall, wanting to get into the smallest, most defensive place he could. He'd never killed anyone before without being told to. He'd never even hurt anyone. Having that excuse, feeble as it was, left him with a feeling of blamelessness he didn't have anymore. He'd committed murder and he had no one to blame but himself.

He remembered the Elder. Not the pervert who spied on women and violated them so he could take pictures. He remembered the old man who let him sleep in his back room, who told him stories when he was up working late at night and Chrno couldn't sleep. He knew that the Elder was one of the ones who found him after Mary died and kept him from killing himself before he was locked in her tomb with her. He knew that the Elder got the blood he needed when he'd been impaled by that worm demon. He'd never said anything about any of it; it had just been there, something between them that had nothing to do with the Elder's attitude about women or his inability to see them as people.

Until Chrno killed him.

He didn't hear Rosette come in, sobbing his heart out over what he'd done. Then she was standing in the doorway staring at him and he saw her again in the photo and felt the rage and the guilt, and thought he would gag at his inability to reconcile them.

"What's wrong?" she gasped, her expression horrified.

Everything. Absolutely everything and he couldn't tell her. "You're back early," he said instead, trying to pretend nothing had happened, even as he scrubbed his face clean of tears. "I w-wasn't expecting you. I'll make tea." He hurried past her, but she grabbed his arm and he was afraid his heart would stop. He wasn't sure he could defy a direct order right now. She couldn't know. She couldn't know what had been done to her or what he was.

It wasn't direct. "What's wrong?" she asked again, more softly.

He was afraid to look at her. "Nothing," he managed and hurried out of the room. Crossing the living room, he saw the bible he'd been reading at night and leaned on it for a second, trying to catch his breath before hurrying into the kitchen and starting the tea with shaking hands.

---000---

Rosette went to see Remington. She couldn't think what else to do. Chrno dropped the tea pot and his voice started cracking while he was apologizing. She wanted to just demand he tell her what the problem was, but he was so obviously going to try and fight her over it. She'd never seen him look so miserable and he was very pale. She was afraid he'd get sick again if she forced it. Scared and confused, she went to see the only man she really trusted one hundred percent about the demon. Sister Kate she mostly trusted, but not when it came to Chrno. Not if it would start the woman looking at him sideways again.

Remington was taking confessions. Sighing, Rosette waited in line with a bunch of giggling novices who probably were more interested in the man they were confessing to than their own sins and finally got to see him shortly before she grew impatient enough to start gnawing on the upholstery.

The confessional was a small, claustrophobic room with just enough room for a chair and the grill into the place where Remington sat. Rosette didn't particularly like it, but she had to admit she always felt better after she confessed and got whatever crap was inside her out. Remington usually didn't hand out heavy penance either, unlike some of the other priests. A couple of them seemed to think she was damned to hell for some reason.

Rosette flopped down on the hard seat and waited for the grill to slide open. "Bless me Father for I have sinned," she said automatically and grabbed the edge of the grill, staring through it at the silhouette she could see on the other side. "Something's wrong with Chrno."

"Oh?" Remington said, nonplussed by her change in direction. "Is he feverish again?"

"No. I don't think so. Not unless being sick can make you cry." She bit her lip. "I went back early and found him crying in the bedroom. He's trying to pretend nothing's happened, but I can tell he's really upset."

"Did you ask him what the problem was?"

"Yes," she said slowly, "but he wouldn't tell me. I'm thinking of ordering him to, but I know he doesn't want to talk about it. What should I do?"

"Maybe you should respect his privacy," the priest suggested.

"But it's really freaking him out!" she protested. "He won't change out of his little boy form and he won't talk to me and we haven't had sex since we were on Eden!" At that, she realized her mistake. "Oops."

Remington chuckled. "So, are you telling me that you got more than just wings on Eden? I wondered if you still needed his legions now that you can change shape."

Stupid, stupid, stupid! Rosette felt like beating herself on the head for letting that slip. "You can't say nothing!" she protested. "This is the confessional! It's secret!"

He laughed easily. "Don't worry about me. We'll have to talk about it at some point, but not right now." She breathed a sigh of relief. "Do _you_ have any idea what's bothering him?"

"No. He's just being silly."

"No one's emotions are silly, Rosette," he reminded her, but she just pouted. "When did he start this?"

"I dunno. When he got sick the other week. Not that this time should matter, he's always getting sick!"

"He's been through a lot. Even with his legions, its been hard on his body."

"I know," she murmured, looking down at her hands. The last year had been a lot rougher on him than her. She didn't like to think about how many times she'd nearly lost him.

"I'm having a thought," Remington said to her. "Just based on timings. Do you remember when Chrno was sharing a room with me? Before we got those wards up around your cottage to hide your astral signatures?"

She frowned. "Yeah. What about it?"

"Chrno was worried about you and told you he didn't want you to go after that demon without him. Do you remember what you said?"

She thought back. She mostly remembered yelling at Remington for not taking good enough care of him and a really boring lecture on lust. "Sort of."

"You told him to never question you again," he said. All of the laughter was gone from his voice now and she started to feel cold. "Had he ever stood up to you before?"

"No."

"So he stands up to you once and you threaten to feed him his wings if he ever did it again."

"I did not!"

"You did. I heard you. You made his place very clear to us both. I don't think you realize this, but Chrno was very upset by that."

The cold turned to ice. "But he couldn't go with me," she protested. "He was sick and that demon was after him. You saw how bad he was when I got back. He nearly died! He couldn't have gone outside!"

"Yes," Remington paused and she heard a regretful tone to his voice. "Chrno was far too ill to go outside for any reason. But you treated him like a slave."

"No!" she gasped. "I would never do that!"

"No?" He sighed. "I think it would be easy. Chrno likes to obey orders. He's comfortable that way. I think for him to try and give one is very significant and probably very hard for him to do, but you brushed it aside like it meant nothing. Your relationship is already horrendously unequal. I think he's hurting now because he's finally realized it. Don't forget, this is a demon who defied both Pandemonium and Aion for freedom. He gave himself to you, but there's a difference between giving something freely and having it taken. You took his freedom away from him, Rosette."

Rosette slouched on her chair, her hands pressed against her burning cheeks. Was he right? Was she as bad as Pandemonium and Aion? She _couldn't_ be. She loved Chrno!

"The worst part of it for Chrno," he continued, relentlessly, "is unlike with them, he can't ever leave you. He's still dependant on your astral, isn't he? He'll die without it. He left Pandemonium and Aion when they abused him. If he leaves you, it'll be suicide for him. Now that you don't need his legions, he also knows that only he will die. Imagine what the thought of you getting tired of him must do to his self confidence."

Rosette whimpered, crying silently. Her poor Chrno, her poor, poor Chrno. How could she have been so awful to him? No wonder he didn't want her. She was terrible! "What do I do?" she wailed. She didn't want to leave him; she never wanted to leave him. She wanted to run over there and beg him to forgive her instead.

"I want you to pray," Remington told her, "and meditate. Clear your mind and your emotions. Then I want you to go to Chrno and apologize to him, but you have to mean it. Then ask him what _he_ wants and listen. Remember always, in a true dominant/submissive relationship, it's the submissive that has all the real power, even though it seems he gave it all to you. If he actually tells you something, it must be important."

Rosette nodded slowly, sniffling. She hadn't expected anything like this. "I'm sorry, Father," she managed. "I've really sinned, haven't I?"

"Pride is a sin, Rosette, but it's not a fatal one. Go do your prayers. Don't let Chrno see you so upset. It'll only make him feel worse."

"Thank you," she murmured and opened the door, scrubbing her eyes with her sleeve as she went out, closing the door quietly behind her. She felt awful, but good at the same time. She'd make it up to Chrno and make him happy. He deserved to be happy after everything he'd done for her.

Rosette dug her battered old wooden rosary out of her pocket and headed determinedly for the church. She had some praying to do.

---000---

Rosette woke up in the middle of the night. Her mind was whirling a mile a minute, leaving her unable to sleep. She'd actually heard Chrno getting up a while ago and waited for him to return, but he didn't come back. Finally sitting up, she could see a light shining in the other room.

She hadn't talked to him yet. She'd spent the rest of the afternoon praying in the church, clearing her mind like Remington told her, and she'd seen he was right. She'd taken terrible advantage of someone who really couldn't fight back. He'd been staring at the fireplace when she got back though, and looked so worn out that she couldn't figure out how to bring it up. She'd made him dinner though and he'd been obviously stunned. They could live off astral without eating if they had to and she'd never cooked for him before. He barely ate any of it though and her worry deepened. If it kept up, she'd haul him back to the doctor, after asking politely.

Now though, she got up and padded quietly to the doorway, peering out. Chrno was curled up in the big armchair, one leg tucked under him and an arm draped over his head, playing with the end of his opposite ear. He did that sometimes when he was really thinking and usually didn't even realize he was doing it. She'd always thought it was adorable before. Now she was too worried to appreciate it. She was losing him; she could feel it.

He had a book open in his lap, she realized; her bible in fact, and he was apparently reading it, the toe on his free foot kicking back and forth. Reaching the end of his page, he turned it to the next and kept reading, his eyes moving back and forth very slowly.

Rosette leaned against the doorjamb and watched him for a while before she went into the room. Chrno realized she was there when she was only a few feet away and looked up like he was afraid she would yell at him. She could clearly see the tension come into his body. It made her want to weep.

She smiled gently instead. "What part are you reading?" she asked him softly, kneeling down beside him so she could see over the chair arm at the book. He dropped the hand he'd been using to play with his ear with and shifted a little so she could see more of the book.

"This middle part," he said softly, "where the messiah is going around blessing people and taking away their sin."

Rosette swallowed, wondering what he was trying to tell her. Actually, it seemed pretty obvious. "I always kind of liked that part," she told him just as quietly. "That you can do something really horrible and still be forgiven, as long as you truly regret it."

"Really?" he said, not looking at her and instead staring at the book. "That can happen for real?"

"Yes," she told him, leaning against the chair arm and uncaring of her bare knees on the hard floor. "It's called repenting. If someone really repents of what they've done, they can be forgiven it."

She was so close she saw him shiver. "How? They have him dunking people in the river here. I don't understand."

Rising up, she squirmed into the chair beside him, afraid he'd push her away. He let her though, squirming around until they were both squished in the big chair. His body was warm beside hers, but he didn't look at her, still staring at the book. She felt a pang and put an arm around him to stroke his ear. Once, she would have rubbed his temple where his horns would be in demon form, but with them still bleeding, she would only have caused him pain.

"It's called baptism," she told him. "Where you tell God that you're giving yourself to Him and you want a fresh start. He'll give it to you."

"Were you baptised?"

"Yeah, me and Joshua both. We were just babies." She paused. "You can be baptised and still mess up, but God always loves you and he'll forgive you messing up when you feel really bad about it."

She stared at him intently, hoping he realised what she was saying to him and how badly she wanted him to forgive her. After all the praying she'd done already, she was fairly sure God did. Since he didn't try to stop her, she kept stroking his ear, just gently tracing the edge of it with her fingers. It was the barest touch, but it sent warm tingles all throughout her. She knew it usually had the effect of bringing him to his knees, but this time his cheeks only reddened a little and he still wouldn't look at her, staring at the bible.

"Is there something so bad," he swallowed, "that it can't ever be forgiven?"

In that instant, Rosette wanted to die. "No," she choked, tearfully. "Nothing."

At that, he looked at her, his red eyes so round they were mostly hidden by pupil. He stared at her, his brow tight, and leaned forward, resting his forehead gently against hers. Rosette leaned forward against him as well, wanting to cry and being afraid to. Did he hate her? She didn't have the courage to find out, not here where the walls felt like they were closing in.

"Do you want to go somewhere?" she whispered. "Just get out of here and take off?"

"The lake?" he whispered back. "It's cold though."

"I don't care."

---000---

She gathered up blankets while he dressed in his warmest clothes and then asked him to wait while she went to get the car. He blinked at the request but didn't protest as she darted out into the frigid night, dressed in her thickest wool dress. She drove the car back around madly, but was careful not to do anything to frighten him the way she normally did as she navigated the way to the lake. He hated her driving and for the first time, she took that into consideration. They skidded a bit on the icy roads, but he didn't say anything, holding the bible to his chest. She didn't protest. If it gave him comfort, he could have it. The Order had lots of others.

It was a horrible night, the wind sheeting snow across the windshield. The car's heater struggled unsuccessfully to keep the car warm and their breath misted in the air as they drove in silence. It was terrible, but she kept driving, headed for the lake that had always been their escape.

It was frozen and next to impossible to see, even with demon eyes. Rosette took the lead when they stopped, breaking a trail for him as he followed with the blankets. Reaching the edge of the lake, they found a sheltered spot under a thick copse of trees and she cleared a place for them to sit before she started gathering dead branches to make a fire. Chrno she didn't ask to help at all and he watched her curiously, standing there wrapped in most of the blankets.

"Don't you want some help?" he asked at last.

Rosette flashed a smile at him. "No, you just take it easy. I'll have this done in a flash." She piled up wood for the fire and frowned at it, realising she didn't have any matches. "Chrno?"

"Uh huh?"

"Can I, I dunno," she twirled her fingers at the fire. "Make this burst into flames?"

He smiled, the first smile she'd seen on his face in weeks. "I don't know. Why don't you try? Point at it and imagine your astral getting really hot and firing out of your palm into the wood."

Rosette stared at the fire, pointed her hand at it dramatically, and tried to imagine her astral flowing out of her like a spear of flame. She was actually quite surprised when it did.

"Ah!" she shrieked, jumping back from the sudden bonfire. Chrno started laughing and she grinned at him, suddenly, absurdly happy. The cold meant nothing against that.

It didn't last. Chrno's face paled and his smile faded. Shuddering, he turned away.

"Chrno!" she cried, starting towards him with her hand outstretched. He looked back at her.

"S-sorry," he whispered, hugging the blankets and book to himself.

Rosette swallowed. This was killing her. She had to do it. She had to apologize and hope it was enough. If not, she didn't know what she was going to do.

---000---

Chrno watched Rosette throw a few more logs onto the fire and walk towards him. She looked like she was preparing herself for combat.

He did _not_ feel prepared to face it. He could hear the Elder's screams in the back of his mind and he clutched the book so tightly that his fingers hurt. It promised salvation, but he couldn't believe it. Not for a demon. Not for him. He saw blood splatter behind his eyes and swayed.

Rosette put her hands on his arms, pulling him unresisting to his knees beside the warm fire. "Chrno," she said slowly, her head bent. She took a very deep breath and looked up at him. "I want to apologize, from the bottom of my heart."

He stared at her, so surprised that the screaming stopped. "Apologize? For what?"

Her lips firmed, her eyes wet. "For treating you like a pet instead of a person. For never asking you what you wanted. For telling you what to do all the time and never listening to what you try to tell me." Suddenly, she was hugging him to her, sobbing and wailing. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! Please forgive me! I didn't mean it! I was stupid! I was bad! I never meant to hurt you! Don't hate me!"

Chrno was so stunned he couldn't breathe for a month. She was apologizing to him? For what? That was what he was made for. She was his master and he loved her. Quickly, he squirmed his arms free of the blanket and wrapped them around her, hugging her close.

"It's okay," he told her frantically. "I don't hate you, I could never hate you. It's all right. I love you, I love you!" The pain rose in him again, the Elder's screams echoing, and he gagged, not able to hold it in any more. It was let it out or die. "Oh God!"

The book said he'd be forgiven if he really wanted to be. But he was a demon. He couldn't be forgiven. Rosette had his face cupped in her hands, her eyes streaming with tears as she kissed him repeatedly on the lips, sobbing.

"You don't hate me!"

Blood across the room, a dying man's screams. "Oh God, help me," he whispered and saw her start in surprise. The words dragged out of him with a pained hiss, words he'd read in the book.

"Bless me… Sister… for I have sinned…"

Her eyes opened incredibly wide. Chrno grabbed her wrists in his hands, not able to take his gaze off her, not able to move. The guilt and the grief had him and they were all gushing out like an infected wound that had broken open.

"I killed the Elder," he gasped. Her eyes grew impossibly larger. "I… I went to him… the night you went after Dafau… for Remington… for a machine to save him… The Elder… the Elder had pictures of the nuns… and Azmaria… and you…" His voice cracked, coming out high-pitched and unfamiliar. "He had his hand… in you… and I killed him…" Tears were pouring out of him now, his words choked with sobs so hard they stole his breath. He couldn't let go of her though or move his eyes, and he could see the tears in her own. "I tore him apart… and I can't stop seeing it… and you… and oh God I want to die! Please… please forgive me! I can't be like this anymore!"

---000---

Rosette felt Chrno abruptly collapse against her, sobbing madly, his entire body shaking against her. She'd had… no idea…

Suddenly, she was outraged, madder than she'd ever been. Madder than at Kate, madder than at Aion, madder than anything. Rage rose up to grab her, but she pushed it away, able to keep it at bay for only one reason. It wasn't what Chrno needed.

Now she understood the conversation in the cottage, and all his actions beforehand. He'd been tearing himself apart from guilt and grief, self-destructing and not knowing how to stop it. She could have killed the Elder herself in that moment and she felt sick that he'd touched her, but she forced her arms to close around her lover, forced herself to remember the words he needed and to feel them in the depths of her own soul before she spoke.

"Do you repent?" she whispered.

"Yes!" he gasped.

"Do you accept God's grace and His love?"

"Yes!"

She closed her eyes. "Then you are forgiven."

Chrno started to cry again, shaking even harder than before, but she could tell these were healing tears. She just held him, nearly lying down with him as he wept himself out.

He'd thought she'd hate him, that all of them would hate him, but that wasn't what the Order was based on. She couldn't have sworn herself to it at all if it were, even to save her brother. She wouldn't have risked bringing a demon to them if that were true. The God _she_ wore the blue for had more than enough room for one little demon who loved more than he'd ever harmed. She stroked his back, his head cradled on her breast as the weeping slowed. Finally, he just sniffled, hiccoughing a little as he got his breath back.

"Are you better now?"

"Can you baptize me?" he asked instead of answering.

Rosette blinked, startled, and looked at the lake. It was the middle of winter and he'd already nearly died of the cold once. He didn't need to risk pneumonia on top of everything else. She closed her eyes and remembered what Remington had told her.

"All right," she said.

She led him to the water's edge, Chrno following docilely, and kicked in the ice to clear a space before hitching her skirts up and tying them above her bloomers. The wind was frigid and the water was freezing cold, but Chrno didn't make a sound as he waded out into it with her. Rosette bit down on her own curses, putting one hand on his back once they were out deep enough and one on his chest.

She was pretty sure there were all sorts of words she was supposed to say, a specific ritual she was supposed to follow, but it was bloody cold and she was shivering and she was pretty sure they were both going to get sick from this.

"I hereby give you forgiveness of all your sins and welcome you into God's arms," she told him, teeth chattering, and dunked him backwards into the water. The water was cold for her; she could only imagine how bad it was for him. He was only under for an instant though and then back up beside her, gasping and shivering. "Come on," she hissed, grabbing his hand and dragging him out of the water behind her, back to the fire.

They ended up stripping down, wrapped in the blankets and huddled together, so close to the fire that the edges of their blankets were almost burning. Rosette shuddered, sniffing miserably, and hoped the sun would come up soon. Chrno was pressed against her and she was still cold, save where he touched, which wasn't much given how small he was. She sneezed, violently.

For the first time in weeks, Chrno changed shape, shifting back into his adult form and wrapping his larger arms around her. Rosette leaned against him.

"We are so going to regret this," she bitched stuffily.

"Never," he answered softly and kissed her shoulder. A moment later, he kissed it again and started working his way up her neck. Shifting his position, he loosened his grip on her and stroked his hand tenderly along the side of her breast.

Rosette closed her eyes, sighing. It was still freezing cold, but the fire was hot and he was starting to use his astral to keep them warm, somehow utilizing it to shield them against the chill. Her desire, shoved down for hours now, resurged with a vengeance. Before she could do anything, though, he roughly pushed her back against the ground, leaning his weight on her to keep her down. Rosette yelped, but he went on kissing her neck and now her face, pressing his lips to every inch of her.

"Chrno?" she asked, confused. She tried to reach for him, but he grabbed her hands and pinned them over her head.

"Shh," he whispered, rubbing his cheek against her. "You're mine. Mine." He went on to kiss her ears, reaching across her to both of them, and licked her horns before pulling back to work on her neck again, making his way down.

Rosette relaxed slowly, letting him do what he wanted. He'd never been so dominant before, but she had the feeling it wasn't her he was doing it for. He was combating the Elder, covering her with his kisses and his scent to banish whatever memory he had of what had been done to her. The blonde smiled and tilted her head back, aware that this was a healing for him as much as the baptism and far more enjoyable a one for her.

---000---

Chrno moved to her breasts, afraid to let go of her and have her take over. Not this time. He couldn't fully understand his actions himself, not the way Rosette did, but he knew he wanted to possess her, to overwhelm her and have her respond to him as she never would to any other man. That would get the image of the photograph out of his mind, make him forget that anyone else had ever touched her.

He laved her breasts with his tongue, sucked on her nipples until she was gasping. They were beautiful and pink, tiny and hard under his tongue. He worked them until he had her crying out, her entire body trembling, and then continued his way down, kissing her ribs and stomach, dipping his tongue into her navel. She was intensely beautiful to him, gasping in air and covered with a golden sheen of sweat. He had to let go of her to go further, but when he did, she didn't move, just lay there and breathed.

"Chrno…" she whispered.

Chrno smiled at her though her head was turned away, her eyes closed, and shifted so he was between her legs, gently nudging her knees apart. She let him and his breath caught. Rosette wasn't shy, but she'd never really let him see her before, not like this, and his passion for her surged.

"Rosette," he gasped and ducked his head to taste her deeply.

Rosette shrieked, her back arching, and he grabbed her hips to hold her still. Her hands tangled in his hair as he worked and suddenly she was pulling him against her, burying his face in her folds. It didn't matter, she wasn't in charge. He had her screaming, shaking out of control and wailing his name. The Elder hadn't even managed to wake her up. He was nothing to Chrno anymore except a regretful memory. Not gone, never gone, but not consuming him either.

He pushed his lover until she went over the edge, howling at the top of her lungs, and her entire body tightened around him. She held that position for a long moment, her flesh pulsing under his tongue, and then collapsed bonelessly. Shuddering himself, he crawled back up to her and pulled her exhausted shape into his arms.

"Whoa," she managed at last. "That was really jake... You should do that again."

"Anytime," he murmured and reached for the blankets before his shield wore off and let the cold in again. Rosette cuddled against him gladly and closed her eyes, happy to just lie against him until dawn arrived.

---000---

The Sunday sermon went smoothly, starting early as it always did and leading to the end where the faithful would take communion. Remington stood at the alter and spoke smoothly, Kate at the foot of the stairs and ready to assist him with the Eucharist.

They had just started and he'd given the wafer and wine to a half dozen nuns when the doors at the back of the church banged open, letting in a blast of freezing wind and snow. Everyone shuddered, looking to see who was so late.

To no one's surprise, it was Rosette, her nose red and her face pale. She'd been down for three days with the flu, Remington knew, which did make it somewhat surprising that she'd shown up at all.

What was even more surprising was that Chrno was following her, almost mummified in heavy coats and just as sick as she was. Remington had been making daily trips to their cottage to bring them soup and generally check on how they were doing. He didn't want to see either of them end up as sick as Chrno had been after he helped him out. Both of them should have still been in bed, and to see either of them in the church was unheard of. Remington wasn't sure Chrno had even set foot in it before. He certainly wasn't welcomed by everyone. There were angry murmurs from some of the older members of the Order and Kate's lips tightened.

"Sorry," Rosette coughed, sniffing. "We slept in." She yanked off her coat and threw it over the back of a pew before slumping down beside Anne, Marie, and Claire. Chrno took his own coat off more slowly. He was back in his boy form, his hair badly braided and his ears drooping. He didn't look like he could breathe through his nose at all.

Remington fought the urge to laugh at the two and raised a hand to silence the murmurs. "As you're here now, Sister Rosette, are you prepared to take communion?" She hadn't done so since she was made into a demon, though she never missed a sermon, late though she often was.

"Not me," she grumbled miserably and cocked a thumb at Chrno. "Him." She shot the small demon a glare. "The holy water only! Don't you eat or drink anything!"

The church was stunned into silence. Even Remington was shocked speechless. Chrno looked around himself nervously and shuffled down the aisle, his arms wrapped around his chest in a protective gesture as he came toward him.

"What?" Rosette grumbled, glaring around her.

"Are you serious?" Kate gasped. "You can't be serious."

"Why not?" Rosette asked. "I baptized him last week. He wants to take the communion. The holy water part only!" she added, shouting the last at Chrno. He didn't answer her, stepping up onto the dais and kneeling uncertainly on the tiny stool placed there. He looked up at Remington nervously.

"Are you sure?" Remington asked him in an undertone. "The holy water will burn you."

"I'm sure," he answered back, just as softly. "I need to."

Kate, meanwhile, was reeling at this latest revelation. "You baptised a demon?" she shrieked. "Are you mad??"

"What's wrong with that?" Rosette screamed back, though her voice was too stuffed up to get really loud. "You keep telling me that God loves everyone!" The congregation turned their heads to look between each one as they screamed.

"Not demons!"

"Why not? He's got a good soul!"

"He doesn't have a soul at all! He's a demon!"

"That's bullshit!"

"Don't you swear in the house of God!"

It didn't look like the argument would be ending anytime soon. "Rosette baptized you?" Remington asked Chrno. "Why?"

"I…" Chrno looked down. "I wanted to make up for things I've done… in the past. She said God forgives."

"He does." He gazed at the lavender-haired demon fondly. Kate's protests aside, he had no doubt that Chrno was possessed of a soul, and a very good one indeed. "But to take the communion…"

"Rosette says not to take the wine or the wafer. She's afraid they'll poison me, but I talked her into the holy water." He looked up at the priest again.

"You don't have to do this at all, Chrno. I don't want to see you hurt."

"Me neither. But I have to do this all the way. Or as far as I can." He twisted his fingers together and coughed wretchedly. "It's not blasphemous, is it?"

Remington hoped not. "I don't think so." Sighing, he turned to the bowl of holy water and dipped his thumb into it, careful to barely wet the skin. He turned back and Chrno closed his eyes, wincing in preparation.

"In the name of the Father," Remington said loudly, immediately stopping the argument and drawing everyone's attention back to him. "The Son, and the Holy Ghost." With that, he made the sign of the cross on the demon's forehead.

He expected smoke and the smell of burning flesh. Demons were vulnerable to holy water and Chrno had proven in the past he was no exception. There was nothing though and after a moment the demon's eyes blinked open in confusion.

"Did you put any on me?"

Remington would have said no, but he could see the shine of water on the demon's forehead. Chrno reached up and touched his skin, bringing his fingers away to see they were wet. His eyes widened.

"Chrno?" Rosette called. "What's going on?"

"What happened?" Kate demanded at the same time.

Remington looked out over the congregation, so shocked that his knees felt weak. "The holy water didn't burn him."

"What?!" Kate and Rosette shrieked in unison.

Chrno shuddered on the stool and suddenly he changed, shifting to demon in an instant. The congregation screamed as he spread his wings, the steel-studded leather he wore creaking when he shifted. Blood trickled steadily from the fragments of his horn stumps.

"Give me the wafer and the wine," he told Remington flatly.

"No!" Rosette shouted. "Chrno, no!" She ran forward, but he flared his wings, his tail lashing in warning.

"NO! Don't stop me, Rosette!" She skidded to a halt, horrified, but she didn't take another step toward him.

"Please, Chrono," she begged. "The wafer and wine are deadly poison to demons!"

"And the holy water burns." He looked up at the priest. "Please, Father."

Remington couldn't refuse him, though his heart shuddered at the thought that he might be about to kill his friend. Breathing a prayer under his breath, he reached for the wafer and the goblet of red wine. The entire church was frozen and silent, except for Rosette's frightened sobs.

Repeating the words of the ritual by rote, Remington carefully placed the wafer into Chrno's open mouth and held the goblet to his lips. The demon drank, deeply.

"No," Rosette sobbed. "Don't die!"

Remington pulled the goblet back and Chrno bowed his head, his wings shivering. He shuddered once and Rosette cried out aloud. Remington set the goblet aside, not noticing when it spilled, and knelt before him.

"Chrno?" he called softly. "Are you all right?"

Chrno lifted his head, his red eyes wide and slitted. "It was just wine and a cracker," he whispered. "It didn't hurt at all."

"Oh my God," the priest breathed.

"Were they blessed?"

He nodded. "Yes. Consecrated to God."

"Then why am I alive?"

Remington smiled, cupping the demon's cheeks. "Do you really have to ask about a miracle?"

Suddenly Rosette was there, sobbing and hugging him and coughing, her nose running. "You idiot!" she gasped. "You stupid, stupid idiot!" Chrno flinched, apologizing, but she was beating him over the head, shrieking about getting back at him for this.

Remington straightened up and looked at Kate. She was gaping at the two, her face white. He almost laughed at her, but the two demons in front of him were being disrespectful enough. He finally had to kick them both out, banished back to bed, and returned to the church, to deal with the obvious repercussions this was going to cause.

**THE END**

_More to come. Haven't quite done all the things I want to do yet and there's a lot of room to play with this series. I haven't quite decided what's coming next though._

_In other news, I am deploying, but it's a short mission and I should be back by the end of the month. I might even have an internet connection while I'm gone. But I do plan to have time to write when I'm not working, so expect some more stories at some point._

_As always, review if you liked. It makes me feel good and it would be great to come home to a box full of comments.._


	13. Temptation

**TEMPTATION**

By Hydraa

_This is the sequel to "Miracle". I managed to squeak out one more before I leave. Hope you like. This one doesn't have any real ratings to be concerned about._

---000---

Rosette wanted to die.

Her life was over, her death certain. Bound in suffering and misery, she waited for it to come, and bring with it her salvation.

"Kill me now," she snuffled.

"Oh, put a sock in it," Chrno groaned.

Lying in the big bed beside him, surrounded by empty Kleenex boxes and wadded up tissues, Rosette shot him an evil glare, though she couldn't really see him through the piled up blankets; other than a long, tangled mess of greasy lavender hair.

"This is all your fault, Mr baptise-me-in-the-middle-of-winter-in-a-freezing-lake, it's-okay-God-loves-me-oh-so-much. I've been sick my entire vacation!"

From somewhere inside the blankets, snoring started to sound.

"DON'T YOU GO TO SLEEP ON ME WHILE I FEEL LIKE CRAP!" she shrieked and belted what she was almost sure was his head with a tissue box. He yelped and emerged, his unbraided hair a frightening halo around his face and a bump rising somewhere near the top of his head. He was in his boy form, her astral too low to make her well, let along fully charge him.

"What is WRONG with you?" he wailed miserably. "I didn't do nothing to you!"

"You got me sick!" she snapped. "I had the whole week off and you had to go and have a crisis of faith!"

"What?? That's what you call it? Are you nuts??"

Possibly, but she was sick, miserable, and hungry, and no one had come to check on them all day. She wanted to take it out on someone and Chrno was a handy target. Fighting with him was the only distraction she had.

Still, she'd promised herself she'd be nicer to him and it had only been three days since she did.

"I'm hungry," she told him as the closest she could come to an apology.

Chrno made a face. "So am I. Do you think they forgot about us?" He looked at her blearily, his hair still a frightening mass, his face lined and his skin pale and blotchy. The only part of him that didn't look bedraggled and half dead was the cross he wore around his neck, cast in silver with small garnets rimming the edge. Sister Kate had given it to him, and looked terribly embarrassed while she did so. Rosette didn't want to admit that she was horribly jealous of him for it. The cross was a wonderful affirmation for him. She'd really feel like crap if he thought he had to give it to her.

"They better not have," she grumbled, flopping back against her pillow. The fire was growing low and they didn't have any more wood inside. The pitcher of water was empty as well and there was a storm raging outside. She could hear the distant booms of thunder even through the thick walls, along with the cold. The thought of getting out of the warm bed to restock their wood supply made her want to cringe. "Go build up the fire. Please?"

Chrno looked at the empty wood hopper and the shuttered windows, rattling with another boom, and sighed. Shivering, he climbed out of the bed and wrapped a robe he normally wore in his man form around himself. It dragged on the ground.

"Thank you!" Rosette called cheerfully and sneezed. He just grumbled and shuffled out of the room, scratching his head. He made his way slowly across the cold living room, barely able to see in the darkened room even with his demon eyes, and awkwardly put on his shoes before bracing himself and opening the door. Nearly blinded by a flash of lightning, he put a hand up to his eyes and forced himself to step outside, past the ward on the threshold that hid his astral signature from anyone outside.

It also served to hide the signature of anyone outside from him. The instant he was past it, Chrno felt the astral waves of battle and realized that it hadn't been a storm they'd been hearing and there was a very good reason why no one had been by to check on them.

The Order was under attack, several of the buildings on fire and the sky echoing with a thunderous staccato of gunfire. His hair whipping out into the frozen air of the snowy night, Chrno stared upwards at a glowing figure that hovered over the Order, looking right down at him as they both felt each other's energy patterns.

"ROSETTE!" he screamed, forcing himself to go demon despite his low levels. "GET OUT!"

Aion landed heavily on the ground in front of him, his smooth face twisted in a sneer. "Lose your horns again, Chrno?" he hissed. "I seem to owe you a wounding."

Chrno snarled and lashed out, his spiked tail whipping around and stabbing at the other demon. Aion blocked it with his own and lashed his claws at him. Ducking, Chrno charged, trying to bring his own claws to bear.

Aion vanished. Chrno stumbled, nearly falling, and heard a laugh. The white-haired stood a few feet to the side, arms crossed and smiling at him. Chrno lunged again, and yet again he vanished.

He was speeding time for himself, Chrno realised frantically, and there was nothing he could do about it. Rosette didn't have enough astral in her entire body to let him use his own ability to slow time. He didn't have a chance without them.

More explosions sounded overhead, the other Sinners still attacking the Order, firing on it from above where the wards built into the walls couldn't weaken them. He could hear Rosette as well, shrieking and struggling out of bed. Desperation filled him and he swung his claws and tails both, trying to anticipate where Aion would be.

It didn't do any good. Aion's warmth pressed against his back as he turned and he felt his breath against his neck. "Not good enough," he whispered and his arm came around his neck, his claws coming up toward his throat.

Chrno was still moving, momentum keeping him in the turn, and Aion's claws tangled in the cross he was wearing as it swung with him.

Aion screamed in pain and jerked back, letting Chrno finish his turn and lash out at him. He took the hit across the arm, weaker than Chrno could have managed if he weren't ill, but enough to send blood into the snow. Furious, Aion sped his own time again. The next Chrno knew, he was flying through the air, thrown across the yard. He hit the wall of the Order hard and crashed through it, stone scattering across the snow as he slammed into it and skidded on his back, vanishing under the powder. A moment later, he shifted back into his boy form and the snow started to settle on him.

Aion swore loudly, one hand clamped over the wound on his arm. His hand was burned by something he couldn't identify and it _hurt_.

"Aion!" Shader gasped, running up to him. She'd been circling the Order on the ground, using her equipment to try and triangulate the new Apostle's position, as well as to stay out of danger. She was a tech demon, not a soldier, and her ears were flat against her head with fear.

"Have you found him?" he growled at her. The last Apostle was in that building. Genai had seen them bring him there when he tracked them. After years of searching for the child and with every other Apostle in his possession, Aion was not inclined to wait any longer.

Shader shook her head though, her ears trying to swivel in every direction now. "No. I can't get anything on him. I thought I did at first, but there's nothing now. But I didn't detect him being moved." Her eyes were frightened now just looking at him and he could feel her fear. It only enraged him further and he turned on her, snarling. Shader shrieked and dropped to the ground, submitting instantly. His nostrils flared and some of his calm returned.

"AION!"

He spun. Framed by the doorway, Rosette Christopher glared at him. He would have said she looked horrible if her face hadn't been so enraged, if she hadn't been pointing twin pistols at him, and if golden, half feathered wings hadn't been coming out of her back. He was so surprised she had time to pull the trigger.

She ended up hurting him more than Chrno had. One Sacred blew through his shoulder, making him reel back, and the other took him in the side. Aion roared and instinctively sped time. Suddenly, the world was frozen around him, snowflakes caught in midair, and he hit the ground awkwardly and painfully, but without a witness as Rosette continued to glare where he'd been and Shader cowered against the ground.

"You bitch," he gasped, struggling to his feet. "You psychotic bitch. You're worse than your brother." He limped over, clutching his side now, and glared at her from only a few inches away. "You," he told her, "are lucky that your brother keeps asking for you." Raising his arm, he bashed her across the head and let time return to normal.

"Call the others," he told a horrified Shader. "We're leaving." He looked down at the blonde crumpled on the doorstep. "At least the night's not a total waste."

---000---

Remington limped out of the church, a machine gun hanging from one hand. He was exhausted, sweaty, and cold now in the winter night. It was almost over though; dawn was starting to light the horizon. Kate hurried past him, yelling orders for the wounded to be helped and the dead left for now.

Remington looked back at the church. It had managed to avoid most of the damage, but the men's barracks was gutted, as was the administration building. Other fires burned in different places, exhausted militia moving to fight them. Distantly, he could hear fire engines and police cars, heading toward them now that it was too late.

Not that they'd have been able to do much if they had got there sooner. Those had been major league demons, far more powerful than any Remington had ever seen, except for Chrno. He looked towards where his and Rosette's cottage lay. Neither of them had appeared for the fight. Given how sick they'd been, he doubted they'd even known it was going on. Their wards kept them hidden too well. It was a good thing. They'd been out of their league for this battle. The entire militia had been.

He stopped. The wall that blocked the way to the cottage was broken, the stones scattered inward. Remington could see the cottage through it, the front door wide open.

He hadn't seen Chrno or Rosette in the fight at all. Suddenly worried, Remington started towards the hole in the wall, breaking into a limping run as he got closer.

"Remington!" he heard Kate shout from behind him. "Where are you going?"

"The fight spread to the cottage!" he yelled back. "I can't see either of--"

He tripped, landing painfully full length. He heard Kate hurrying up to him as he looked back to see what he'd tripped over. Most of it was hidden under the snow, but he could see the bottom point of a garnet edged cross and part of a very small hand.

"Damnit!" he swore, twisting around on his sore leg without even feeling it and shovelling the snow out of the way. Kate dropped to her knees beside him and gasped as he uncovered Chrno. The little demon's face was grey, but his eyes opened briefly as Remington brushed the snow away from his face.

"Rosette…" he whispered, "he took Rosette…"

Remington and Kate shared a horrified look. Their victory apparently wasn't so absolute.

---000---

The Sinners appeared back at the beach house together, Genai and Shader supporting Aion, Viede carrying Rosette. Fiore met them at the door of the room they used for teleporting, her face impassive as always.

"Shall I prepare the tanks?" she asked calmly. "Master Joshua is sleeping." She glanced at the unconscious nun. "He will be pleased to see his sister again."

"Hurry," Shader told the girl, her tail lashing nervously. "Aion's hurt." Fiore bowed and left.

Aion lifted his head, looking blearily at his followers. They were scared, their fear at the thought of losing him real. He wanted to reassure them, but he was too weak. It was all he could manage just to struggle up and loop a shaking arm around Genai's neck, pressing his mouth against his and drinking deep of his astral. Genai held him upright and let him, forcing the astral into him himself until Aion knew he had no more to give. Wrenching away, he nearly fell against Viede, who was just as eager to share his own energy. Shader was last, stroking his cheek gently and hurrying alongside him as the two men carried him downstairs to where the tanks were.

"You'll be okay," Viede told him worriedly, his blind face turned towards him. Genai nodded agreement. Shader rushed to the instrument panel as they lowered him into the healing gel.

"What of Sister Rosette?" Fiore asked reasonably.

"Put her in the next tank," Aion coughed, trying to think and plan through the pain, even as the lid started to lower. "Keep her there until I wake. We'll rethink how we go after the Apostle." It was obvious the Order moved the boy or hid him somehow. They needed a more subtle way of getting to him. He needed to work out the details, but already Aion was pondering on concepts of trades, or if that didn't work, straight out temptation.

---000---

They had fourteen dead. A very small number given the power they'd faced, but the Sinners hadn't been after them and hadn't been able to get as close as perhaps they would have liked. Fighting them while they were airborne had been too hard though. The militia weren't trained for it and the Sinners escaped without any injury, except for what Rosette and Chrno managed to inflict on Aion. If they hadn't, the fight might not have ended at all until the entire Order was destroyed.

Sister Kate made her way into the former women's barracks, now doubling up to hold all the men and women of the Order. The men had the second floor, the women the third. The infirmary was heavily damaged as well and the injured were on the first. It was crowded and uncomfortable for everyone, but no one was complaining. Kate was actually impressed with the high morale. Then again, they knew that the demons hadn't succeeded in their mission.

The first floor smelled of antiseptic and bleach. Kate made her way around a doctor with a harried look and went to the last door on the left. Opening it, she made her way inside.

There was only one bed in the tiny cell. Chrno lay propped up in it, his face turned to one side. He was filthy and pale, but mostly only bruised. He'd have been killed if he'd been in his boy form when he was thrown through the wall, but his demon shape was far stronger. He was in his boy form again now, his cross fallen over beside his neck. Kate stepped up and gently lifted the cross, rearranging it so that it lay against his chest again. His eyes fluttered open as she moved it and he looked at her.

His eyes were still demon red and slitted, his ears pointed, but the cross didn't harm him and she could still remember watching him take the Eucharist in the church. He was God's and she felt a warmth for him that she never would have when she still believed he was evil and damned. Instead he'd been doing God's work and she grieved that she'd ever made him look at her in fear.

"Rosette?" he asked, his soft voice rolling over the syllables. "Did you find her?"

Kate shook her head regretfully. "I'm sorry." They had no more idea of where she was than Azmaria or any of the other Apostles. Kate hated how helpless she felt. At least Aion hadn't succeeded. "How are you feeling?"

"Tired," he admitted.

Kate sat on the edge of the bed and stroked a bit of hair out of his face. He looked up at her mournfully, swallowing.

"What will happen to you now?" Kate asked him softly. She needed to know.

"Without her?" He closed his eyes. "Eventually I'll go to sleep, like after Madeleine died. Once my astral runs out, I'll die. You'll keep looking for Rosette?"

"Always," she promised him. "I swear it to God."

Chrno smiled slightly for a moment and closed his eyes again, letting his head fall sideways against the bed. Kate reached towards him, but he sighed and she pulled her hand back. "I miss her." There was terrible pain in those words

"I know you do, Chrno. I'm so sorry." She tentatively stroked his filthy hair and grimaced. "I'll send Remington to help you bathe."

"It doesn't matter." He reopened his eyes. "Why did Aion attack the Order? Was he after us?"

Kate shook her head, deciding to be honest with him. "He's after a ten-year-old boy named Raul Ramirez. He's the seventh Apostle. We found him in the last few days and brought him here. Aion attacked in order to capture him."

Chrno looked shocked. "Did he get him?" She'd never asked him what Aion was truly after, Kate remembered. Before, she never would have trusted his answer. Once she did, he was too busy convalescing to ask and she was too busy trying to get to Raul.

She'd have to ask him soon, she knew, before she lost the chance forever.

"He didn't," she told him with a smile. "Once we realised the attack was happening, we put him in the same cell I once put you in."

He smiled gently. "The one that stops time?"

"The very one."

He laughed. "Clever." The smile faded and his eyes closed. He relaxed.

"Chrno?" Kate gasped.

"Still here," he breathed. "For a while." He faded into a normal sleep.

Kate sat with him for a few minutes longer, sorrowfully thinking on the blonde girl who'd brought him. She prayed Rosette would be alright and stood, quietly letting herself out.

---000---

Joshua wandered into the basement lab Shader usually resided in, his hands shoved into his pockets. Long white horns were jutting backwards from his temples and the cat demon shuddered as she saw him. Joshua with the horns missing was cute and amusing. Joshua with the horns out was unpredictably lethal.

He wandered over to the closest tank and looked in at Aion idly. Shader tensed even more, not entirely sure he wouldn't attack her master and determined to fight him to the death, even though she knew nothing about combat. He only studied the white-haired demon for a minute though and wandered on to the next. Rosette Christopher lay inside that one, her hair floating around her face in the gel. She was just in stasis for the moment, much like the five children in the other tanks, though the machines had healed the blow Aion struck to her head, along with whatever illness she'd been sick from.

"She's pretty," Joshua said at last. "She looks like my sister."

Shader blinked, wondering how rational he was. "Really?"

"No," he said and wandered away again, meandering towards her. His eyes were insane and she shuddered, hunching her back submissively. Aion understood submission. He rewarded and revelled in it and he owned her. Joshua didn't even seem to notice. He stepped right up to her and pushed his face up against her. Shader wanted to run.

"Have you seen Fiore?" he asked.

"Upstairs," she whispered. "In the kitchen."

"Oh." He straightened up and beamed at her. "I'll go look for her there." Turning around, he strode out, whistling.

Shader nearly collapsed against her control panel, shaking. She made her way over to Aion's tank and leaned against it, looking sorrowfully at his sleeping face. He had another two days before he would be recovered enough to release.

"Hurry back," she told him. "We need you." He could handle Joshua. He could handle anything, and as always, she had no regrets about deserting Pandemonium to make him her master. Straightening up, she looked over at the next tank. The blonde inside it didn't look strong enough to become Chrno's master. Shader still missed him, even after fifty years. It just wasn't the same. He'd smelled good and he'd been so sweet. She'd curl up with him and feel safe, both of them obedient to Aion. When Aion said he'd betrayed them for Madeleine, she'd been stunned. Now he was with this little girl and she still didn't understand why.

Shader wrinkled her nose and went back to her machines, calmer now that Joshua was gone. Swapping Chrno for him was no great deal in her mind. Hopefully soon they'd get the seventh Apostle and then they could do what they needed with him and cut him loose. Everything would be better then. Sighing wistfully, she continued her work, humming under her breath as she did, happily content once again.

---000---

One of the advantages to rank was the ability to pull it once in a while. Remington carried Chrno into the men's shower, empty now except for them, and put him back on his feet in the large room, hanging their towels up before settling the little demon down onto a stool. Chrno sagged, breathing heavily through his mouth. He was still sick and he shivered in the cool air.

It was why Remington asked for privacy. For one, he didn't want anyone to be tempted to stare at the demon and make him feel uncomfortable; for another he wanted to be sure that the hot water lasted long enough. Under normal usage, it didn't.

Quickly, he turned the water on and set it as hot as he suspected Chrno could stand it, and the demon straightened up on his stool as the water beat against his back.

"Better?" the priest smiled.

"Yeah. I guess it was okay to get out of bed after all."

Remington laughed and knelt down, half in the spray himself as he gently pulled Chrno's head back, soaking his hair in the water. It turned much darker as it got wet and he picked up the shampoo.

Chrno sat there placidly as Remington soaped and rinsed his hair several times, running his fingers through the strands until all the dead hairs had been removed to float as clumps towards the drain. He worked out the tangles, being careful not to pull until he had it all worked out and a waterfall of purple flowed down the demon's back.

Chrno's head was bowed by then, his eyes closed and a strange little kitten snore coming from him.

Remington smiled and picked up the soap. Chrno woke when he started to wash his back, his face obscured by the steam of the hot water, but he moved obligingly as Remington lathered his skin, cleaning off the sweat and dirt. The two men didn't speak, but it was a comfortable silence, though a sad one as well.

Remington could feel the distance growing in the little demon. He was drifting away from them, too weak to go after Rosette and knowing it. Instead he was surrendering and Remington cupped a hand under his chin, ostensibly so he could wash his face but really so he could look deep into those red eyes of his.

"Don't give up, Chrno," he told him. "We will find Rosette."

"Like you found Joshua?" he replied softly. He had such dark circles under his eyes he looked like he'd been beaten. "I don't have that much time."

Remington glared at him. "God didn't point out to all of us how much He loves you just so you could die, Chrno."

"Maybe He did it so I'd know He wanted me to come home."

"Don't talk like that!" He scrubbed roughly against his ear and the demon flinched.

"Sorry, Father."

Angry and not knowing what to say, Remington finished the demon's shower and turned off the water. Shivering himself, he dried Chrno off first and then himself, before carrying him back to his room. Chrno leaned against his chest, listening to his heartbeat.

"I haven't given up," he whispered. "I can still feel her, inside me. She's alive."

"How do you know?" Remington asked as he sat him on the side of his bed and dressed him in a pair of child's pyjamas, putting his cross back on him last.

"She's my master. My soul. I gave myself to her. I can feel her in here." He touched his chest and smiled for a moment, then pulled back the covers and let Remington help him settle down. "I can feel her," he whispered again and closed his eyes.

Remington straightened up, wondering. Turning off the light, he left the demon alone.

---000---

Kate looked up as Sister Maria came in. "Father Remington sent this message for you," she said, handing her a note.

"Thank you." Sister Kate stood up from her makeshift desk and made her way around the mess of files that had been rescued from her office. Right now, they were all piled in the cell next to the one she slept in and there wasn't any free space save that she occupied herself. She read the note and paled. Leaving Maria staring after her, she ran down the stairs to the first floor.

Remington was in Chrno's room, the doctor just leaving. Kate ran in and stopped.

Chrno lay in the bed with his hands folded over his cross, his long hair unbound and glistening. He didn't move at her entrance and Remington looked up at her, his face haunted. "I was in here an hour ago," he told her. "I helped him shower and carried him back. When I brought him some food, I couldn't wake him."

Her hands clasped together. "Is he dead?"

"No. I don't know." He bowed his head. "He's warm, but he's…"

"Sleeping," she finished and bowed her own head. She should have asked her questions sooner. She should have done a lot of things. Perhaps some day God would sit down with her and tell her why all her realizations always came too late.

---000---

Aion woke in his own room, blinking at the sun that came in the window. He was tired but whole, the wounds in his side and shoulder gone. Even his hand felt better and he opened it and closed it a few times, watching the fingers flex and just letting himself wake up slowly.

As he did, he reached out with his mind to his followers. He didn't have anything like Pandemonium's telepathy, but he could feel each of them in the back of his head. Viede was somewhere in the house, Genai downtown, probably doing the shopping. Shader was just outside in the kitchen.

He couldn't feel Chrno.

Aion frowned. Chrno had broken his ties to Aion, thanks to that Saint fifty years ago basically ripping them away, but Aion had never lost _his_ connection to him. He'd known when Chrno succumbed to astral depletion and was buried in Magdalene's tomb with her, ostensibly to contain him. He knew when that bitch and her brother woke him. He knew when he nearly died, even before he called out to him in his delirium. He knew it every time he loved that woman of his and opened his mind to her. Only now he couldn't feel him at all.

It bothered him. He'd lost a thousand followers he'd gleaned from Pandemonium and still grieved their loss. He'd lost Rizel and hid how much it still hurt him from the others. He'd lost Chrno's presence, but he'd always been able to feel him and that had nearly been good enough. It had also been useful at times. They'd been able to track the Las Vegas Songbird by tracking Chrno. Aion couldn't always find him; he was much harder to triangulate when he was focused on his human bitch and he'd been doing something lately that had hidden his location until Aion was nearly on top of him, but this was different. He wasn't dead. He'd know it if he were. That would be a scar on his mind. This was an absence.

He'd felt it twice before. Once when he went into an astral depletion coma in the Saint's tomb, after his horns were torn out and she had no more life for him to drain. Aion had visited him there periodically, keeping his astral levels high enough that his brother didn't die while he waited for him to come to his senses. Only Rosette Christopher found him first. He would have been dust otherwise by the time she stumbled into that tomb. The second time had been soon after he made the bitch into a demon. He wasn't sure what happened to Chrno then, but he knew it had been done at the Order and he'd been about to tear it apart to find him when his energy returned. Now this made the third time.

Aion couldn't kill his own followers. He wasn't like Pandemonium, using them up and discarding them as she saw fit. Chrno was his and always would be. He might punish him and he'd like very much to put him in one of Shader's tanks and wipe his memory completely clean, but he wouldn't kill him. Especially not Chrno, who'd shared his mother with him and had been born from the same womb.

Without Rosette to feed him, he must have gone into a coma again. He should have ordered the others to bring him along with her. If Aion'd had time to think it through, he would have. But he'd had a sudden plan, a way to use Chrno to his advantage, and he hadn't expected him to fade so quickly.

Then again, how long had _he_ been recovering? He should have had three or four days to put his plan into action. It was still refining in his mind as he rose, nearly there as he pulled on a robe and strode out into the kitchen.

Shader launched herself at him, mewing happily. He caught her and pushed her back, looking intently into her eyes.

"How long was I recovering?"

"Five days," she answered immediately.

"Damn it!"

Her ears drooped. "What? What's wrong?"

"Chrno's in a coma from attrition."

Her ears went even flatter. "But he shouldn't be! She has enough reserves she could keep him going for almost seven days if he took it easy!"

"Perhaps he didn't," he pointed out. "Besides, they were both sick when I fought them. His levels were already lower." He looked out the window at the ocean. "Where is the nun?"

"Still in the tank. I didn't want to let her out."

Aion smirked. "Perhaps we should. She might like to see her brother. I know I'd like to see mine."

He led the way down into the basement, past the tanks with the Apostles in them to the one that held Rosette Christopher. She looked temptingly small and helpless in there, her horns so small they would only have classed her as a servant back in Pandemonium. She should be easy to dominate, he mused. She was a demon after all now, or at least enough of one he should be able to crush her resistance and make her as much his as the Sinners. That would be the way back into Chrno's mind and the way to the Apostle as well. It would also help in controlling Joshua. Everything neatly tied up together.

"Let her out," he told Shader and she scrambled to do his bidding. The lid rose and Rosette floated to the surface. Immediately, she started coughing and leaned over the side of the tank, heaving. He stepped back before she could get any of it on him, well aware he was just as goopy as she. It amused him, especially when she looked up at him and her eyes widened.

"Not at our best, are we?" he asked lightly. "We will be." Gathering his thoughts, he attacked, slamming his dominance down on her as hard as a century of experience would let him. Shader whimpered in the background, feeling the edge of it, and the girl screamed. There wouldn't be much she could do against him though. This would be an easy victory.

---000---

Sister Kate stepped into her makeshift office, her lips pursed and her head throbbing. Her glasses were pinching her nose and her habit felt too tight and hot. Casting around, she looked for the box that held the items from her devastated cupboard and started to dig through it. The nuns had thrown everything in it when they cleaned out her office and she was afraid and hopeful both that it would be broken.

It wasn't. She lifted it out intact and just studied it for a long moment. She'd spent the night in prayer, seeking some answer from God, but she still didn't have any solid conviction that this was right. Just her own faith and her desperation to guide her.

Kate turned and left the office, gliding down the silent hall. It was late, most everyone asleep, and no one saw her descend three floors and go out into the night. It was still cold, the moon so bright above that it lit the snow eerily like twilight. Carrying the object she'd found, she walked across the snow towards the church. Militia on guard duty nodded as she passed, but no one moved to stop her. There was no reason anyone would.

She went into the church and down the aisle to kneel before the alter, repeating her prayers and her vows. That done, she forced herself to rise and went past it into the rear atrium.

They'd brought Chrno there, needing the room in the barracks more than he did. He lay on a mattress laid atop a table, candles burning on the windowsill above him. His hair cascaded down beside him and over the edge of the table, hanging towards the ground.

He'd never wake up, not without Rosette. Kate closed her eyes and made the sign of the cross over her chest. Perhaps not just with Rosette. They needed him. The Order wasn't as powerful as it needed to be; they were helpless against Aion and given enough time, he would find the Apostle and achieve his goal. She was sworn to prevent that, no matter what the cost.

Repeating the sign of the cross, she undid her headdress and let it fall. Then she undid the front of her robes so that the skin above her breasts was showing. It was pale and freckled, starting to sag and become wrinkled. She wasn't as young as she used to be, but she hoped she was enough. She prayed she was. For her, this was in God's hands, and it was up to Him to decide if she was doing the right thing.

She stepped up to the edge of the table, her short hair dark in the candlelight, and lifted Chrno's hand, pressing it against her bared breast. With the other, she laid the pocket watch they abandoned so long ago on his naked chest.

"Chrno the Sinner," she intoned. "I hereby make a Contract with you." And with that, she snapped the watch open.

**THE END**

_And I'm heading off for my mission… yeah, crappy place to leave it, I know. I will definitely return to this._

_Given _this_ ending, I'm really hoping for comments._


	14. Masters

MASTERS 

By Hydraa

This is the sequel to "Temptation". 

---000---

From darkness and sleep, power came, exploding through him on a tidal wave of force.

Chrno bucked, shifting from boy to demon in an instant, mouth gaping open with a gasp as the power convulsed within him. Back arched, he couldn't see what was happening for a moment, but he could feel it going through him, energy writing in runes across his skin, and he could hear the screaming. It was deafening, a cry of pain and terror both at once.

It wasn't him who was screaming, he realized. It was a woman. A woman whose hand was on his chest, lighting the fire within him while his own fingers dug unrelentingly into her breast, buried deep within her and feeding, sucking the soul straight out of her.

Mary! He realised. Rosette! Both of them had screamed this way, both of them had lit the Contract within him, making him theirs. But Mary was dead and Rosette didn't need a Contract. Who?

Chrno forced the muscles in his body to obey him, to let him drop out of the bowstring shape he was in and sit up. The hand moved with him, locked against him, even as his own hand remained embedded in her. He sat up and looked at the face of a woman that he didn't recognize for a moment with her short hair and pain-filled face. Not until he saw the little round glasses she wore on her nose. Even then he could barely see her in the cataclysm of light and energy swirling around them, drumming against the walls like thunder.

Kate! He thought. Kate had made a Contract with him?? When had he ever agreed to this?! He never would have agreed to this! Not to another woman sacrificing herself for him. Only it was happening, and the watch was running backwards, glowing as it charged with her life force and he could _feel_ it draining out of her, barely held back from filling him completely by the watch itself.

His mind blew wide open and he felt her agony while she experienced his confusion. He shuddered, trying to get his hand to move and grab hers, to break the link somehow and free her, no matter what happened to him. The Contract wasn't complete though and they were both screaming, her in agony, him in denial, only it wasn't something he _could_ deny. Kate had him as surely as Rosette and Mary before her.

Alerted by the screams, men appeared at the doorway to the room, Remington shocked at their front. Chrno tried to warn them, but he couldn't stop screaming and Kate didn't even know they were there. Remington lunged forward, trying to break them apart, but that only increased Kate's pain and he lashed out at the priest, forcing them all back. Remington jumped out of reach and then several men had the demon, others holding Kate, trying to pull them away from each other. Chrno could tell they were saying something, but he couldn't hear them.

This was far worse than the last two times, agony now flowing into him instead of the ecstasy he remembered. Kate was nearly unconscious from the pain. He was fighting her, he realised. Both of the other times, he'd been willing and the Contract had been quick. This time he resisted, trying to beat back her energy, and he was killing them both trying to stop something it was already too late to halt.

Sobbing, Chrno lunged forward, throwing the men off as he wrapped both his free arm and his wings around the woman, pulling her hard against him and just letting it happen, encouraging it to happen, surrendering himself to her. The pain diminished then, still there but nearly orgasmic in comparison, and with a horrendously normal sounding click, the watch closed.

Kate sagged, out cold, and Chrno held her closer to him, his face buried against her neck. "Why," he whimpered. "Oh, God, Kate, why??"

Gently, Remington put a hand on his shoulder. "Chrno? Are you all right?"

"No, I'm not!" he yelled, not letting go of the woman in the slightest. Instead he took the hand that had been buried in her, well aware of the five bruises now standing on her pale skin, and put it around her as well. "She made a Contract with me! Why did she go and do that? I didn't ask her to!"

"Chrno." Remington paused and then his hand tightened. "You're still a demon, Chrno. Change back to a boy."

He was. He was in demon shape, sucking even more life out of her. Chrno sobbed and changed, becoming a boy, and suddenly her mass was too awkward for him. Remington took her and lifted her in his arms. Kate was grey, her face pallid and her body shivering. Chrno had never seen her without her headdress before.

"I didn't ask her to," he whispered. She was going to die, she was going to die like Mary did and like Rosette would have, and it was all his fault.

Remington looked at him evenly for a moment and nodded. "I know, Chrno. Kate always makes up her own mind. I'll take her to her room." Gesturing for the shocked men to stay back, he left the room.

Suddenly, Chrno couldn't stand to be away from her, not from his Contractor. Hopping down from the table, he hurried after them.

---000---

Aion pushed deep into Rosette's mind, forcing his dominance on her. It wasn't anything like the gentle stroking of depth she did to Chrno's psyche when she made love to him. Aion didn't dare leave any part of his own mind open and that meant there was no real penetration of _her_ mind. He just pushed on it whole force, crushing it under the awareness that he was stronger, he was more powerful. He was the master and she was the slave, and there was joy in that, contentment, peace. She was his and always would be. Chrno had crumbled under that pressure, taking his place as the subservient, wanting that control and harmony. It would be heavy at first, Aion promised, but in time the touch would become lighter, become pleasurable. Chrno had felt it and given in willingly. All of the Sinners had, every one of them relaxed and happy on the leash.

Rosette hauled off and punched Aion in the nose.

Aion reeled back, stumbling over his own feet and sitting down hard, his robe flying up. After so long touching Chrno's mind and actually going into it without harming him, Rosette had a lot of strength and she used it to lash back at the demon, slamming him with her own disgust, right before she kicked him in the head.

"You bastard!" she screamed. "You lousy piece of shit!" She didn't know exactly what he did, but she knew she didn't like it. "Nobody tells me what to do!" Shrieking, Shader came at her, to do _what_ the cat demon didn't know, and Rosette hit her with her anger as well, jerking the scientist to a halt in her tracks before she punched her in the jaw as hard as she could. Shader spun and went down, stunned.

On the floor, Aion snarled, shaking his head and trying to get his thoughts together. Of all things, he hadn't expected the girl to be able to fight him on _this_ battlefield. What had Chrno been teaching her?? He couldn't have taught her this, he realised. He didn't know how to attack with his mind or be dominant. He hadn't even been able to resist until Mary shielded him. But Rosette took to it as easily as Pandemonium.

Oh, shit, he realised, suddenly cold. Pandemonium had been made into a demon from a human too and no one had ever been able to beat her in a psychic fight.

He spun around, abandoning the mental attack and fully preparing to gut her with his claws. She'd grabbed Shader's chair though and slammed him across the head with it as hard as she could. Aion dropped again, unconscious.

"Applesauce," Rosette growled, panting for breath and furious. He'd tried to do something to her, tried to change the way she thought. Not being the submissive type in any aspect of her personality, she'd met his invasion with a sudden rage and denied him. It seemed to have worked. He was insensate, but already starting to twitch.

She might have beat him on the mental level, but she had no doubt she wouldn't do so well on the physical. She was a demon herself and immensely strong, but this guy could beat Chrno unless he had his horns. She had no desire to take him on without a lot of ammunition on her side. Now was the time to run.

She started for the door and Shader stirred, her ears flat as she pushed herself up and looked at her, her glasses askew. Rosette thought about kicking her again, but she was dressed in her nightgown still, covered in slippery goo, and she was lucky she hadn't broken her toe or landed on her butt last time.

Shader gaped at her, shaking, and scrambled for the alarm. Rosette swore and tried the same trick Aion just attempted on her.

She hit Shader with her dominance, her absolute right to rule. It was the total essence of her authority that she used on Chrno in their lovemaking, but she was gentle with him, deep inside him but soft. He loved it. Shader she didn't go inside, but she slammed the exterior as hard as she could.

Shader screamed. Rosette could feel her, she realised. The cat demon wanted to resist, but she was small and submissive. She needed a master, had been born for it as much as Chrno, and she wanted Aion. Aion had taken her from Pandemonium, he had become her master and been much better at it in that he was almost always kind.

He'd done exactly the same thing to get her that Rosette was now, she realized, and with a smirk she increased the pressure. _You are mine. You are mine._ "Obey me," she ordered, advancing on the cat. "Obey me." Shader shook her head frantically, her tail lashing, but Rosette swallowed her, surrounded her, and demanded it of her. "Obey me now."

In that moment, she felt the shift, felt Shader's mind move and lock onto a new master. The cat flattened against the ground, mewling. "Don't hurt me!"

Rosette blew out a breath, her head aching, and shot a look at Aion. He was still out cold, twitching a bit still. She had no idea when he'd wake or even if he'd realise what she'd done. According to Chrno, he hadn't when Mary took him away, but she'd been so subtle _Chrno_ hadn't realised it happened. Rosette doubted what she'd just accomplished could be called subtle by any stretch of the imagination.

"I won't hurt you," she told the cat, kneeling beside her. Shader looked at her with desperate fear. "What's your name?"

"Shader." The answer came automatically and the cat looked shocked at it, even as she started to relax. She was accepting the change, Rosette realised. Just that easily. Of course, she had no choice and the blonde tried not to feel guilty.

"Are you mine, Shader?" Rosette asked her.

The cat's eyes softened. "Yes."

"Will Aion be able to tell?"

Shader considered that. "I don't think so. I can still feel him a little."

"But you obey me?" Rosette stressed.

"Yes."

Rosette smirked. "Then I have some orders for you."

---000---

Kate woke with a headache. She felt like a sharp spike had been driven into her brain, right between her eyes, and she lay there for a moment, just breathing deeply and evenly until it passed.

She clearly remembered everything that happened. She had bound herself in a Contract to the demon Chrno, giving him her own life so that he could wake again. She hadn't realized it would be quite so painful though.

Now that it was done, she didn't feel much of anything. She certainly didn't feel like she'd given a demon access to her life force. Nor did she feel like she was going to go to Hell.

Kate sat up slowly, just in case her head started to spin. The sacrifice would be worth it if Chrno was able to defeat Aion. She told herself that, going over all the logical arguments in her mind again as she rose and walked slowly across her room to the mirror that hung on the back of the door. She wasn't a vain woman, but her position did require her to maintain a perfect outward appearance. The floor length mirror was there so she could be sure of it before she went out before the other sisters. Her station also resulted in her having a larger room than most, and with the only light coming in through the window on one wall, much of the space remained in shadow.

She looked at her reflection in the mirror sombrely. Whoever brought her back had left her wearing her usual dress, though it looked odd without the headdress and with her short hair showing. She looked at her face, wondering if she could see signs of her diminished life force, and started as a shape moved in the mirror behind her.

"Kate," Chrno murmured, stepping up behind her and sliding his arms around her.

The Sister was nearly floored by shock. He was taller than her in his adult form, his body warm against her back and his eyes glowing in the dim light. His arms came fully around her and he pulled her back against him, head bending down to kiss her on the neck. It felt like fire and without even realising it, she shuddered.

"Kate," he repeated and nipped his way up her neckline, breathing warm air into her ear before he closed his mouth on it, tongue tracing along the whorls inside. She had never had any idea that her ear was that sensitive. Her breasts, she discovered a moment later, were far more as he drew his hands up along the sides, gently stroking them with his fingers before cupping them and rubbing her nipples with his thumbs.

He was seducing her, she realized with hazy fright, and doing a truly impressive job of it too. Parts of her she'd shut down decades before were waking up with a vengeance, and as he reached down to start parting her robes, she realised how terribly close she already was to letting him take her, right there in her room on the Order's grounds, where she could look out her window each morning and see the church.

Kate took a deep breath, feeling his hand reach her, exciting her, and turned around, slapping him across the face with all the strength she had. Chrno froze, his head turned away from her with the force of the blow, and then shimmered, shrinking. He was back to being a little boy again a moment later, his long violet hair hanging loose around his white shirt and red shorts.

"What do you think you're doing?" she snarled, truly enraged.

Slowly, he looked up at her with miserable eyes. "I don't want you to die."

Kate started, much of her anger bleeding out of her as she realised exactly what he'd been doing. He'd been trying to save her the only way he knew how; by turning her into a demon the same way he had Rosette. Sighing, she readjusted her robes and crouched down before him. "Don't do that again," she told him bluntly. He opened his mouth to protest and she raised a finger to silence him. "I mean it." He faltered, his brow tensing, and her anger rose again.

"DON'T TOUCH ME, CHRNO! THAT'S AN ORDER!" She'd made her choice. She wouldn't skip out of it through his kind of salvation. His eyes widened and then he shuddered and all the fight went out of him.

"Yes," he answered lowly.

She settled back on her heels. "You'll behave?"

"Yes."

"Good." She stood, straightening out her robes. "And I won't tell Rosette what you tried." He shivered at the thought, but he didn't contradict her. Nor did his gaze leave her while she collected her headdress and put it back on. It made her somewhat uncomfortable to be watched so intently and she found herself wanting to lash out at the little demon again, even as she told herself that this had to be terribly hard on him. He'd lost Rosette and now he was bound into a Contract with her, without giving his consent for any of it. She was amazed he wasn't yelling at her for her presumption.

Instead of taking her own discomfort out on him, she lashed out at something a little easier to handle.

"Do something about your hair," she snapped. It was hanging all around his face and down to his knees, longer by far than even many of the girls. "Why haven't you braided it?"

He looked down at it uncertainly. "I don't know how," he admitted. "Rosette always braided it for me."

He said the last sentence very quietly. Kate sighed and went to her desk, taking a comb out of one of the drawers and sitting on the stool there. "Come here." Chrno walked over obediently and she turned him around, making him stand there while she combed out his long hair.

"Your little attempt wouldn't have worked," she pointed out to him. "The wards in the Order would have prevented it."

"No. They were broken in the attack. I can feel it." He looked back at her over his shoulder. "I'm sorry."

"You should be," she sniffed, her thoughts focused less on his seduction attempt and more on the fact that the Order was now even more vulnerable. They had to move Raul. The boy was still safe for now in the timeless cell, but they could hardly leave him there for the rest of his life. Not that any of his life would pass while he was in there, but his parents' would and the entire family was frantic to get back together.

Gently, she combed his long hair out, amazed at how soft it was, and began to braid it. He didn't move throughout it, his head jerking back a few times only when she tugged too hard. She braided it to the end and dug through her drawer for something to tie it with, finally coming up with a broken shoelace for her boot. It was better than nothing and she tied the end off firmly. Chrno lifted it and looked at it.

"No ribbons?"

"Are you a girl?" she snapped and stood. She was still somewhat mad at him, but she doubted he'd make any sort of attempt like that again. He looked too oddly eager to please instead. She sat down again. "Chrno, before I get distracted by something else, tell me. What is Aion after?"

The little demon frowned. "He wants to trade Hell for Heaven."

She'd heard that before. It sounded horrific, but right now, tactically vague. "What does that mean?"

He blinked in confusion. "Huh?"

"What does it mean," she repeated slowly. "What exactly does he plan to do?"

His eyes widened and suddenly slitted to lines. "He said not to tell anyone."

Kate was stunned. "What? _Aion_ told you not to tell anyone?"

"Yes."

"What are you doing obeying him??"

He opened his mouth to answer and closed it again. "I don't know. He ordered me not to tell anyone."

Were all demons crazy? "You can tell me, Chrno. You have to."

He shifted uncomfortably. "You don't understand. He _ordered_ me."

She frowned, remembering the half dozen or so Oaths she'd imposed upon him when Rosette first brought him to the Order. He had been completely incapable of disobeying them. Could Aion have done the same thing?

"Did he bind you?"

"No. He just ordered me."

He said it so casually. Kate wished Rosette would follow instructions so well. Still, if he wanted orders…

"Chrno," she said clearly, looking him straight in the eye. "Listen to me. I am commanding you to tell me what Aion is doing. Do you understand?"

He hesitated, making her head throb.

"Do you understand?"

He shivered.

"I'm ordering you, Chrno."

Her head started to hurt.

"You will do what I say. Now!"

It felt like she was having one of her worst fights with an obstinate Rosette. Like she was beating on a wall of stubbornness with both fists. Kate was just realizing that the wall was actually there in fact, somewhere in the ether between them, when it cracked and came down.

Chrno dropped to the ground. "I'll obey, I'll obey!" he wailed. "He's using my horns on Joshua as an upload link between Pandemonium and the astral line that he and the other Apostles can control. Since Joshua isn't a demon, she won't have access to him and using that much power, he can overwhelm both her security systems and fail-safes to take control. He's going to reprogram the Legions to not self-destruct when away from their host and to keep recreating themselves indefinitely. They'll overwhelm and subsume the entire planet, remaking everyone and everything into demons, with him as the primary controller!"

He felt silent, shuddering and weeping, and Kate sat there in shock. She didn't have the vocabulary to understand half of what he'd said, but she grasped enough of it. Aion wanted to turn the world into Hell with himself as Satan. Shaken, she stood, intending to go and inform the council of this.

"Kate?" She turned and looked back at the whimper. Chrno was still cringing against the ground, but she had no time to console him.

"What?" she asked, trying not to snap at him again in her impatience.

He lifted teary eyes to her. "When we find Rosette… if we find her…? Will you give me back to her…?"

She started to ask what he meant, but didn't. She had a horrible feeling she wouldn't like the answer. "Of course," she told him and hurried out, leaving him broken behind her while she went to save everything else.

---000---

Filthy with transparent goo and all the dust and crud that stuck to it, Rosette sprinted up the stairs and into the hallway on the main floor. She could see windows framing the entire side of the house, overlooking a beach and ocean, and ran for the door in the centre of them. Swearing, a heavily muscled man lumbered to intercept her, his long hair pulled into a high ponytail and his ears pointed like every other demon's. Rosette didn't bother trying to fight him. She hit him the same way she had Shader, bellowing obedience to him without saying a word.

The demon screamed, his head flinging back as he thundered to his knees and fell onto his front. He had a taste to his mind, Rosette realised, just like Chrno and Shader did. Shader was quicksilver honeysuckle. This man was slow flowing molasses.

Chrno was hot chocolate, all the way.

"You're mine!" she yelled at him as she vaulted his body, still headed for the door. She didn't know how long it would take to get control of him or even if she could do it again. More, she didn't know how long it would take Aion to wake and she really didn't want to face him again. She also knew how many other people were in the house and she didn't know if she could take them all at once.

There was one she knew she couldn't take at all.

Two, actually. A woman appeared in the doorway to the kitchen, dressed in a maid's uniform with a collar and blank eyes. "Please return to the lab," she said calmly and raised a jewel that looked just like the ones Satella used. She shouted something and an armoured knight appeared before her.

Rosette dodged for the window, cursing. The knight rushed to intercept, halberd swinging, and she dove, crashing out through the heavy glass and rolling onto the deck. A third demon who'd been sitting there, his eyes covered in scar tissue and shadowed by a hat, started to his feet in surprise. Someone sitting on the other side of him started as well and a bird screamed in protest.

She couldn't fight them all. Instead she dove off the deck, well aware that knight was right behind her, and transformed herself.

Chrno hadn't given her any lessons yet. He'd been sick ever since she became a full demon and it had been winter, too cold to do anything even if he had been well. Moreover, she hadn't really wanted lessons. She could do this if she had to, but it frightened her in ways she didn't really want to admit to anyone. Heights always had.

Rosette spread her wings and flew, beating down heavily as she arched up to gain altitude, trying to go as fast as she could. It felt like her feathers actually were pressing on something and she hit a hot patch over the beach sand that abruptly threw her upwards for thirty shrieking feet. That put her out of the range of the knight, but not the eyeless demon who arced towards her, far more agile in the air than she.

Rosette opened her hand, looking at the gift Shader had given her. Three small stones glinted there, each containing the trapped soul of a person foolish enough to summon Aion and make a contract with him. They got what they wanted, but he got what he wanted as well, and the fine print for his deals always included their soul trapped in a stone for his use. The thought of using them made her cringe, but as Shader pointed out, what other choice did she have? There were too many for her to fight on her own, and if she didn't escape with what she knew, there would be no stopping them.

So she focused on what the cat demon told her. A place she knew. A place that would not have changed and that she knew intimately. Focus on it hard enough and will herself there. She didn't have the power to do it on her own; only demons of soldier status and higher could do so, along with specially bred messenger demons, but she could do it with the stones. She just had to will herself there and the stones would do the rest.

Rosette closed her eyes and imagined herself there with all the strength in her heart. She was there, she had to be there. Her determination surged, the stones flashed, and the world changed.

She felt it. The temperature dropped twenty degrees in an instant and the air pressure was different. Rosette opened her eyes, gasping, and saw she was headed at high speed right towards the only place she'd been able to think of that was high up enough for her to fly and stable enough not to change.

She was about to crash into the side of the Empire State Building's steeple.

"Oh, Applesauce!" she shrieked and wrenched her wings to one side. That had the effect of flipping her over and sending her tumbling head over heels, before she hit another air current and was suddenly going the other way, bucking on the tangled waves like a dolphin in a storm. How the crap did Chrno do this? How had he managed to do this with her on his back??

Something snarled close by. Startled, Rosette looked over her shoulder, throwing herself off balance again, and only the sudden tumble she took saved her from the sword swung by the eyeless demon right behind her. He'd followed her, she realised in a panic. Somehow he'd tracked her here.

Frighteningly, being eyeless didn't seem to bother him any. Rosette plummeted out of control, zig-zagging on air currents she couldn't see and falling at a steady rate, but he tucked his wings and dove after her as easily as a bird in a backyard, his lips drawn back in a snarl.

She was so close to getting away. Suddenly pissed off, Rosette slammed him with her demand for obedience and he gasped, smashing into her in turn a moment later. The breath whooshed out of her and she fell again, tangled with him.

This demon tasted like black liquorice, but he was fighting her, trying to get his sword around even as she tried to rip large holes in his mind. She had to be causing him terrible pain, but he snarled and struggled on, wings spreading involuntarily as they rolled together. They hit a current at the same time and shot sideways, angling down. Fighting him physically now as well as mentally, Rosette bashed an elbow in his face and brought a knee up into his groin, rolling him around just in time for him to hit first when they slammed into a building neither of them were expecting.

They crashed through the heavy window to screams of breaking glass and frightened people. Knocked away from him, Rosette rolled a half dozen times and fetched up against a pillar, her shift yanked up to her midriff and her goopy body now covered with a layer of broken glass and beads as well. They'd crashed into the haberdashery floor of a shopping mall and she'd gone through a bead counter.

He'd gone through several hat racks. Rosette had to laugh as she scrambled up at the sight of the other demon stumbling clear of the racks, one shoved up through the leather straps criss-crossing his back and a hat crammed down so far over his head that he couldn't get it off.

Belatedly, she remembered that he didn't need to see at all as he turned towards the sound of her laughter and lunged, claws outstretched. Rosette dodged out of the way and he twisted around to land on the pillar and launch himself at her again. He'd forgotten about the hat rack stuck through his clothing though and it tangled in his wings. He fell, cursing as he crashed into the floor.

Rosette ran barefoot across the marble floor, chasing after the fleeing shoppers in the hopes that they were headed for the exit. They ran from her as much as the other demon and she fled behind five of them as they opted to jump into the open elevator instead of taking the stairs.

Heaving for breath, Rosette stood in the elevator and leaned against the closed doors as the car descended, her face red as she looked at the frightened shoppers staring back at her with her wings and nearly decimated shift.

"Mommy," one little girl whispered. "That angel is all mucky."

Great, Rosette thought, rolling her eyes. At least she made an impression. A moment later, there was a heavy thud on top of the elevator car above them.

---000---

Aion came around to Shader holding something truly horrendous-smelling under his nose. He shot upright and instantly regretted it as his head threatened to split right down the middle.

"Aion!" Shader cried as he buried his face in his hands with a groan. "Are you all right?" Her astral signature felt odd, but he didn't have the time to wonder about it. She'd probably had four or five lives scared out of her. At least she was alive.

"Where's the nun?" he grated.

She shook her head, her ears flat. "I don't know. She ran. She took some of your stones."

She took what? She did what? She knew about the stones? Aion couldn't remember if Chrno had known about them or not. He snarled and leaped to his feet, skidding on the goop on the floor before he ran up the stairs. His sword and more of his stones were in the living room and he grabbed them as he ran in.

Viede was lying on the couch, his face ashen while Fiore tended to him. Joshua stood behind them, his horns fully out and the air around him trembling. Time itself was screaming about the boy.

At that precise moment, Aion didn't care. "Where'd she go?" he grated.

"She teleported," Fiore told him flatly. "Genai is tracking her."

Which meant she could be anywhere, but Genai was Aion's, without any of Chrno's resistance. He could track him everywhere. "Get him to Shader," he ordered, pointing at Viede, and started towards the door, his mind already reaching out to Genai's.

"I want my sister," Joshua said suddenly.

Aion didn't care about that either. "I'm going to kill that girl and tear her-"

"I WANT MY SISTER!" 

The words were a scream, one in the mind and the soul as well as the air. Aion looked back at Joshua to see his wings were out and suddenly he was using his power to restart the time that was freezing all around them. The air was a storm, the house creaking, and everything threatened to become stone.

_His_ people threatened to become stone. Aion had seen what happened at the orphanage he found the boy at and he screamed himself, countering it with his own power. Time stopped, time started, time froze, time flowed. Back and forth, in an instant, for years. Absolutely nothing happened in the room and everything threatened to happen, reality itself screaming and threatening to come apart from the strain.

"Master Aion is going to get your sister now!" Fiore shouted suddenly. The struggle stopped abruptly and she folded her hands in a docile fashion before her. "Isn't that right, Master Aion?"

"Yes," Aion heard himself saying. He and Chrno had never had a battle like this. Not with those powers. He didn't know which of them could win it if they did and never wanted to find out. "I'm just going to get her now."

"Oh, good," Joshua said happily and wandered towards the kitchen. "I'm hungry, Fiore. Do we have anything good to eat?" Fiore bowed deeply and followed him.

Shaken, Aion looked towards his Sinners. Viede still lay on the couch, hurt and not understanding what just happened. Shader in the doorway did understand though and her ears were flat against her head with terror.

"I'm going now," Aion told them, his mouth dry, and neither of them questioned him as he stumbled out of the house. Genai, he had to find Genai, and in the corner of his mind, he found him, felt his anger and his hurt. The bitch had hurt him badly and he was running on instinct, determined to stop her but wanting Aion there so badly.

"I'm coming," Aion breathed, palming a stone. A moment later, he was there.

---000---

The demon pounded on the roof of the elevator car, his blows hitting it hard enough to dent it inwards and making the whole thing sway. The people in it screamed, cowering, and Rosette cursed, staring upwards. At this rate, everyone was going to get killed. She turned, hitting the button for the closest floor and the car shuddered to a halt, the doors opening onto a floor filled with furniture and even more people. There was no help for it though as the roof started to peel upwards with a horrendous scream of metal.

"Get out!" Rosette yelled, gesturing at the people. They fled past her, terrified, and she leaped out of the elevator after them as the demon slithered into the car behind her.

She sprinted away from the elevators and across the floor, leaping over couches and sliding over tables, her shift hanging off her and the demon chasing right behind. They ran faster than many of the humans could move, leaving them staring after them both as she fled, looking for somewhere to make a stand. Did the store sell weapons? She didn't know.

She didn't feel like she had it in her to attack with her mind again, not after taking Shader and hurting the other one. Her brain felt like it had all been squeezed out. She leaped over an ottoman and out onto an aisle between departments, her wings folded to prevent drag as she ran flat out.

Genai was only a few metres behind her, his own wings folded. He was enraged. He'd felt her hit his mind, felt her hit _Viede's_ and he wanted to hurt her with every ounce of his being. His head hurt though, ached terribly, and his mind kept sensing double as he chased the girl. He nearly ran into a column at one point, letting her put on more of a lead, and he snarled as he raced after her again, uncaring of the humans around them or any thought except one.

Kill the girl, kill the girl, kill the girl… 

More windows loomed ahead, a sign hanging before them that pointed to the stairs. Knowing it would be suicide to go through them and let him get at her in the air again, Rosette sprinted towards them anyway, intending to turn and follow the corridor to those stairs. The more restricted the space, the more chance she suspected she would have.

She was nearly there, humans still scrambling to escape as they realised what was happening, when a shadow covered the windows. An instant later, Aion crashed through it, now in his demon form with white armour, and she skidded on her butt, trying to stop her forward momentum.

She nearly slid into him. Scrambling to her feet, she started to bolt back the way she'd come, but Genai was there, leaping for her. He slammed into her and she screamed, thrown backwards. She landed on her back, painfully crushing her wings, and he came down on top of her, pinning her legs to the ground. A moment later, Aion's hand came around her throat, holding her the rest of the way down.

"Bitch," he growled and punched her as hard as he could.

---000---

Breathing heavily, Aion looked down at the unconscious girl. He wanted to kill her, but without Joshua… Perhaps he could still use her as bait for Chrno. Somehow, he could feel the other demon now, awake again; just like he could feel another, closer demon in a lot more pain.

"Genai?" He turned in time to see Genai roll off the nun, shaking and vomiting. "Genai!" Uncaring of the humans still staring at them, he grabbed the lean demon, forcing him to look at him with the motion-sensing eyestubs on his forehead. Genai's real eyes were long gone, destroyed by Pandemonium, but his mind was sensitive enough to know his surroundings.

That sensitivity also left him wide open to Rosette's attack. Aion felt the pain and the damage, the battered obedience and confusion. Grabbing Genai's chin with both hands, he looked deep into those eyestubs and pushed his own pain aside as he let his mind flow over the other demon.

Genai sagged against him in relief, his wings drooping as he surrendered completely. He let Aion's dominance soothe around his mind, enveloping it completely. _You are mine, you are mine, you are mine._ "You're mine, Genai," he cooed. "You're mine."

"Yes," Genai breathed, his focus returning, his pain fading.

Nearby, footsteps sounded, police summoned to deal with them. Aion might have worried a bit if they'd been from the Order, but these were just normal men. He leaned forward and kissed Genai on the forehead.

"Kill them for me, Genai."

He let him go and the eyeless demon leaped to the attack while he turned to deal with Rosette.

---000---

Chrno followed Kate into the department store, his heart in his throat. A girl with golden wings had been taken by two demons there, one in white, the other with no eyes. Aion and Genai. Somehow, Rosette had got away from them and they'd retaken her.

If only he'd _been_ there.

They went up in one of the elevators, Kate talking with a policeman as the car rose, and the doors opened onto a horrific scene. Bodies of policemen and shoppers lay everywhere, tore apart. It looked like Genai's work. Whether he'd felt threatened by the police or not, he'd killed everyone. Chrno swallowed and followed Kate out of the car.

He didn't want to be away from her, not while she wore that watch around her neck and her life was tied to his. He wouldn't try to seduce her again, but he had to protect her. She was his Contractor, he had to be with her. He didn't love her, but the bond was there.

She was his master. He'd tried to resist, but she'd broken him, just like Aion had broken him, before Mary came and put him back together.

He didn't think Kate even realised what she'd done to him. She ignored him much of the time and it hurt. Even Aion had never ignored him. He didn't neglect any of his people and Chrno had to push away a sudden loneliness for him. It was Rosette he missed, Rosette he loved, Rosette he wanted to be his master. Not Kate, who recognized him as a person but still used him as a tool. A tool she'd sold her own soul for, but a tool nevertheless.

Slowly, they crossed the floor, Kate commiserating with the police, Chrno leaving her side to follow the aisle, heading towards the broken windows on the far side. A single golden feather lay there, surrounded by police tape that warned not to touch. Chrno ignored the admonitions, picking the feather up and holding it to his nose.

He could smell her on it. It was hers. Chrno inhaled deeply, losing himself in that scent. She smelled so good. He'd follow that scent if he could, go to where she was and bring her back. He'd do anything, even if Kate ordered him not to. He hoped.

"Chrno," Kate called. "Put that down and come here."

His hand trembled, wanting to defy her, but still he lowered it and let the feather fall back to the floor, turning and walking over to her side. Once, she'd had Oaths put on him to control him and he wondered if she had any idea how much stronger her hold was on him now. It didn't matter. In the end, they had the same goal and he'd be a tool for her to get Rosette back, even if the tool was destroyed in the process.

---000---

Shader watched with keen interest as Aion and Genai returned with Rosette. Genai was sent to bed, just as Viede had been, and Fiore helped carry the girl in.

"Get wards," Aion growled at her, looking tired. "I don't want her screwing with anyone's mind. I had to fix Genai. I'll check Viede once we're done here." He looked at her intently. "Did she hurt you?"

Shader shook her head happily. "Nope nope nope. Punched me." She pointed at her bruised chin. "Ouchie. I'm okay though." She skipped off to get the wards. Normally they used them on any demon they captured for information, and then only sparingly. They weren't so easy to get.

Aion watched her for a moment, but he didn't question her answer. If she'd been hurt, she'd be in pain, just like Genai had been and Viede was. He could feel him even from the basement and ached to go to him. After that, he'd take a shower.

"Keep her under control," he ordered Shader. "Don't take any chances. Understood?"

"Roger dodger," she chirped, saluting. Wings sagging a bit, he turned and went out.

Shader looked at Fiore. "Help me, would you?" she asked. The doll bowed and together they put the wards on Rosette. Enough to hold her shape and secure her mind so she couldn't lash out at anyone again. "Weak as a kitten," Shader cheered, her ears swivelling to listen in different directions.

"Her brother will be pleased," Fiore nodded. "He'll want to see her. After she's cleaned up, of course."

"Yup yup. Why don't you go draw her a bath?" Shader smiled.

"You'll be all right alone?"

"Sure sure. You go." She waved her out, chattering, and returned to the lab, staring down curiously for a moment at the unconscious girl. Bending over, she sniffed her face and straightened up, satisfied. Then she skipped over to the computer and tapped it into the phone line, setting it to dial a number.

_"This is the Order of Magdelena,"_ the woman on the other end said wearily.

"Hi!" Shader answered. "Rosette told me to call. Can I talk to Father Remington please?"

THE END 

_More coming. _

I always thought Aion subsuming Rosette's mind and turning her into his minion in the second half of the animated series was a load of crap. In my mind, this was a lot more likely.


	15. Retribution

RETRIBUTION 

By Hydraa

_This is the sequel to "Masters"._

---000---

"Move!" Remington bellowed. "Move it! Hurry!"

Around him, dozens of militia bolted to get on the plane, every one they had left who was mobile enough to fight. Other Orders in other cities were mobilizing their own people, headed to rendezvous with them.

Kate hurried past, barking orders into a phone on the side of a weapons box carried by the red-coated demon beside her. Chrno nearly clung to her side, his long braid swinging as he kept one eye on his Contractor and tried not to tangle her in the phone cord or it around anyone else. Remington was still reeling at her being his Contractor; everyone was reeling at it, but it was there and without him, this battle would be a lot less certain. It still wasn't so certain. They were facing two soldier demons, an undead jewel witch, an insane psychic Acolyte with Chrno's time powers, and Aion himself. On their side, they had a hell of a lot of ammunition and Chrno. Victory definitely was not certain.

He supposed they had Shader as well, providing they could trust her, even though it was on her word they were doing all of this, and if it wasn't a trap, they'd have Rosette as well. It was a crazy situation to trust in, but that was what faith was all about.

Remington smiled and went to climb on the plane. It was still a long way to San Francisco.

---000---

Dizzy and dazed, Rosette Christopher went to breakfast.

Shader brought her, chattering non-stop and giving periodic hugs that nearly bent her ribs. The cat demon was definitely an affectionate sort. But she helped her clean off and go down to the meal, which did smell good, for all Rosette's brain felt rather fuzzy, thanks to the multiple wards she wore. She felt weak as well, and definitely outnumbered as she walked into the room and the two male demons sitting at the table there glared at her.

She recognized them both, one as the big guy she'd slammed getting out of the house and the other as the blind guy who'd essentially kicked her butt in the store when Aion showed up. Aion himself was sitting at the head of the table, smirking at her.

"You know Aion," Shader said cheerfully, guiding her to a chair opposite him. "And this is Viede," she pointed at the big guy, "and that's Genai." The blind guy. Both of them looked positively hateful.

Rosette sank into her chair, ignoring them both. Sitting to the right of her seat, across from the two demons, a blond-haired man was gobbling down pancakes, the girl in the maid's uniform standing dutifully behind his chair.

"Joshua?" she whispered. Four years it had been, four years since she saw her little brother, and now he was gobbling food like it was a normal day.

He looked so _healthy_, his cheeks flushed and pink, his body taller even than hers. Tears filled her eyes and started down her cheeks. She'd looked for him for so long, missed him for so long. She and Chrno had both gone through hell.

"What a lovely reunion," Aion laughed from the other end of the table, raising his coffee mug to them both. Rosette glared at him. Joshua barely glanced up.

"What reunion?" he asked. "Is someone visiting?"

Rosette stared at him, horrified. "Joshua? Don't you recognise me?"

He looked at her blandly. "Haven't you always been here?" he asked.

She didn't know what to say to him. "I'm your sister!" she gasped.

"I have a sister?" He looked at Aion for confirmation, who nodded solemnly. "Really?" He beamed at her. "Hi, Sister!"

Rosette spun on Aion. "You did this to him!" she snapped.

"Of course I did," he shrugged. "He's more useful this way."

Sluggishness aside, Rosette felt like leaping over the table at him, but Shader's hand on her shoulder tightened for the barest moment and then the cat was bounding over to the chair on the other side of Joshua, chattering away at the white-haired demon.

Rosette stared at her brother, miserable. She didn't know what she'd expected, but she'd hoped he'd at least recognize her, that the madness wouldn't still be there after four years. If anything, it seemed worse. Tentatively, she pushed her mind out at him and flinched in pain as it rebounded back at her.

"Careful," Aion cautioned. "Those wards won't let you try anything like that. Shader tells me she made them up special, just for you."

"Why's she here?" Viede grumbled. "She's trouble."

"I should have killed her," Genai hissed.

Aion smiled. "Now, now, boys. She's Joshua's sister. She makes him happy." Joshua continued to ignore them all, eating his pancakes. "And she's excellent bait for Chrno."

Rosette gaped at him. "I'm what?"

Aion's smile broadened. "He's found a new Contractor, dear Sister. He must have, otherwise he wouldn't be awake right now. He is." He tapped his head. "And with you in my possession, I'm sure I could convince him to hand over the Acolyte the Order is protecting, and himself as well." He looked over his followers. "How would everyone like to have Chrno back with us? Post mind wipe of course."

"Mind wipe?" Rosette whispered.

"Of course. He'll go to sleep in one of Shader's tanks, she'll turn the computers to some setting I've never bothered to understand, and he'll wake up with no memory of anything. Especially not of you."

Rosette shot Shader a look, her eyes wide, horrified, and demanding. The scientist's ears flattened for an instant and she looked away, but the acknowledgement had been there. Rosette looked back at Aion. "It'll never happen."

Aion just laughed. "It will. He'll do anything to save you. You're his _master_." He spat the last word out. "He won't be able to resist. But once I have the acolyte and we've reached our goal, he won't care. Trust me, neither will you."

Rosette sank in her chair, feeling cold. In a moment of solicitude, Joshua speared a couple of pancakes and dumped them on her plate, but Rosette wasn't hungry.

---000---

The last of the planes flew into the airport at dawn, bringing with it its units of militia. The New York unit had been there for hours though, its men and women gathered in a hangar, watching uncertainly as six of their strongest leaned heavily on a red-coated boy lying on a metal table.

"Are you ready?" Remington asked from where he lay across his upper body.

"No," Chrno answered truthfully. "Do it anyway."

Remington looked up at Kate. "We'll be quick."

She nodded and lifted the pocket watch around her neck, breaking the seal on it. It opened and instantly she gasped, body stiffening in agony while Chrno changed. He went from boy to demon in an instant and more men piled on him to hold him down.

A very nervous-looking metal smith stepped forward, looking down at the demon uncertainly.

"Hurry!" Remington shouted. "This is killing her!"

Shaken, the man bent down. Taking a piece of red hot metal, he laid it over the stump of Chrno's horn and grabbed the pliers, twisting it into a domed shape. Chrno screamed, trying to buck off the table in pain, and Remington threw all of his weight on him, trying to hold him down as even more men piled on top. Sweating, the smith shaped the cap that would protect Chrno's horn from attack and jumped back. "Done! Turn him!"

Remington leaped back, as did the other men, and grabbed Chrno's shoulder, flipping him over onto the other side before he could lose control and lash out with his wings, or worse, that barbed tail. Chrno thudded onto his other side, eyes wide, and Remington leaped onto him again. If Chrno had truly fought them, they never would have been able to stop him, but he couldn't make himself hold still for this without help. They pushed him down and the metal smith bent over him again. Chrno wailed.

Then it was over. The smith jumped back again and the watch closed. Kate sagged to her knees, coughing, and Chrno shrank, becoming a shaken little boy. "Easy," Remington soothed him, patting his shoulder. "You're okay now. You said getting hit there would hurt a whole lot more, didn't you?" He looked up. "Kate?"

"I'm fine," she choked. "Get moving."

Capping Chrno's stumps had been the last major bit of preparation they'd had left. Thank God his horns had finally stopped bleeding. Everything else was ready and the priest looked out into the rest of the hangar at more militia members than he'd ever seen in one place before. Everyone had come, right down to the novices. From what they'd learned from Chrno and Shader, this was the battle that mattered. Pandemonium didn't want the planet. She was content in her own little world where demons only left on her orders or when stupid people summoned them. Aion would bring her world here.

Remington nodded, turning to give orders while Kate collected herself, noting how Chrno slipped off the table and struggled to her side. He was the one to help her up and be pushed away as she gathered herself and went to check the cross barriers. They had the beach house mapped out, intel confirming that the demons were there. Everything was ready, everyone prepared to move. To save the rest of the world, they would kill everyone in that house if they had to.

The only worry they had was that Chrno would disagree. Rosette was there and they didn't know for sure that Shader would be able to get her out in time.

He looked back at the two, Kate leading the little demon towards one of the hangar offices now. She'd told him she could deal with it. He both hoped and dreaded that she could.

---000---

Chrno followed Kate into the back office, dizzy from the capping and more than a little ill. He hadn't been sick since she created the Contract, the first flush of astral from her healing his sickness, but that had bloody hurt. He'd forgotten how much. His original stumps had been capped by religious men thinking it would contain his powers. They just made them numb and less of a problem. He couldn't use them anyway, but the fragments moving hurt.

He trailed into the office after her and watched as she closed the door, her head bowed and her back to him. "Praise God and give me the courage I need," she murmured, making him suddenly very nervous.

"Kate?"

She turned and looked at him, her face impassive, and abruptly he was very frightened indeed.

"K-Kate?"

"Chrno," she said softly. "You know why we're here, don't you?" He nodded. "And you know that you're one of God's soldiers. He's accepted you into His house. You'll always have a place in Heaven." She looked pointedly at his cross and he put a hand over it. "I've come to believe He did that for a very specific reason."

"What are you saying?"

She sighed. "The purpose of the Order is to protect God's world, no matter what the cost to us. All of us are soldiers." She paused. "Rosette is a soldier."

His eyes widened even further. "What are you saying?!"

Her eyes hardened, her will sharpening so harshly that he could feel it and gasped. "Your job is to fight Aion, do you understand? Nothing else."

"But…" He'd hoped to go after Rosette. "But Rosette…"

"You will not worry about her," she told him harshly. "You won't worry about me. When I give the order, you will go after Aion and _nothing_ will stop you. You will kill him, do you understand?"

_YOU WILL KILL AION._ Pandemonium's order echoed through his mind and he reeled, barely able to whimper. "…but Rosette…"

"We'll save her if we can. Your job is Aion!"

_YOU WILL KILL AION_.

"No…" he sobbed. "Please. I want Rosette! Please!" Tears poured down his cheeks, but Kate was brutal, her face pale but her gaze absolute.

"You will obey me, Chrno! Aion is your target! Say it!"

She was pushing on his will, battering over walls of resistance that she'd already broken down. Agony speared through him, an urge to obey that he didn't know how to resist. He tried anyway, screaming.

"Rosette! No! I won't leave her!"

_YOU WILL KILL AION._

"Obey me, Chrno! I command it!"

"Mary!" he screamed. "Help me!"

Almost he saw her, almost he made himself die in that instant and escaped them both, Kate and Pandemonium, but Mary smiled, shaking her head, and he thudded back into himself, his eyes glazing over.

"I will obey. I will kill Aion."

Kate looked at him uncertainly and finally nodded. "Thank you, Chrno. Wait outside."

Numb, he turned and went out. Kate waited until he was gone and turned, grabbing a small garbage can just in time to vomit into it.

"May God forgive me," she whispered.

---000---

Aion wandered out onto the deck of the beach house. Chrno was in San Francisco.

He'd felt his pain, clearly. Someone had truly damaged the other demon. He could still feel him now, numb and hurting at the same time. He was also a lot closer than Aion would have expected. He really felt like he was in San Francisco. Aion closed his eyes, focusing. He was definitely in the city, at the airport.

Could he track Rosette? he wondered. Aion wouldn't have thought so, but he didn't really know how their relationship worked. He wasn't even sure how they managed to have sex without killing each other. It wasn't an experiment he was terribly eager to try himself.

Maybe she summoned him somehow. Either way, he was here now, just ready to be grabbed. It wasn't ideal; Aion still wanted him to get to that Apostle, but perhaps this could work. He could go get him, get Shader to wipe his mind, send him in as a cat's pawn to retrieve the boy, and then everything would be perfect. The Order wouldn't even have a reason to realise they'd been duped.

Aion smiled and looked over his shoulder at Shader, sitting at the window playing with one of her inventions. "Chrno appears to be at the airport," he told her. "I'm going to go retrieve him. Tell the others to wait for us." Chrno was no match for him without horns. Turning, he shifted to demon and leaped into the air, vanishing in an instant.

Shader watched him go, her ears swivelling, and hopped off her chair, headed for the lab and her phone connection there. Aion hadn't specified _who_ she was to tell.

---000---

"Ah, crap," Remington said, hanging the phone on Chrno's box up. "Here we go.

"MOVE!" he screamed at the top of the lungs. "GET OUT OF HERE! REGROUP AT YOUR LOCATIONS. AION IS HEADED HERE **NOW!"**

The response was predictable. Militia bolted in all direction, grabbing weapons, grabbing gear, gathering into the trucks that had been brought for them and racing off as fast as they could. The Sinners finding them first had been one of the threats against them and everyone in the militia was trained to move fast. Fifteen minutes after they started, the last of them peeled out.

Remington looked at the final two remaining. Chrno looked beaten and Kate serene. "Will you be alright?" he asked them both. Kate looked down at Chrno and he nodded slowly. Remington bit his lip and drew the cross that became the hilt of his sword. "Take this," he urged the little demon. "You'll need it."

Chrno took the cross and looked up at him. "Thank you, Father."

Remington forced a smile. "I'll be seeing you. I have to go rescue Rosette. I think I still owe her one."

Chrno's eyes grew suddenly huge, life returning to them. "Thank you, Father!" he gasped and hugged him so tightly that he couldn't breathe for a moment.

"You're welcome," he managed and looked at Kate. "Good luck."

She nodded. "And to you. God bless."

He shook her hand, wanting to hug her but knowing she'd never allow it. She was the strongest woman he knew next to Rosette and he didn't envy her this. It had been her choice though. He just wished it had been Chrno's as well. "Both of you take care," he cautioned and hurried to his own car. He very much needed to not be there when Aion showed up. He drove away as fast as he safely could, telling himself he wouldn't look back.

He only did so once.

---000---

Aion flew to the airport, arriving there a half hour after he'd left the beach house. He could still feel Chrno, still in pain, and wondered what he was waiting for. Hopefully, not for him. Aion had no plans to underestimate the boy again. It was the main reason he left the others behind. He didn't want to risk any of them if this was a trap. Chrno was awake and aware without access to Rosette's astral. Either he'd found a new Contractor or he'd found new horns. If it was the latter, Aion was going to get out of there as fast as he could.

If it was the former, he was going to kill his new Contractor. Chrno wouldn't be able to put up much resistance then.

Below him, the airport appeared, one of the few places in San Francisco that hadn't been damaged by his earlier battle with Chrno. Large white trucks were pulling out of it, carrying supplies to the beleaguered city. It was a good sign that things were getting back to normal. It had been a long time since the house had been able to get tea without having to teleport to Japan for it, let alone milk or Joshua's favourite honey. Aion missed the conveniences. Being the strongest teleporter, the errands usually fell to him.

He swept over the airport, careful to keep out of sight as he honed in on one specific hangar. Chrno was behind it, sitting on a picnic table probably used by the men who worked there on their breaks. He was alone, sitting with his back to him, his shoulders hunched. He was in his smallest form, his long hair tied with a leather strip instead of that stupid ribbon he used to have. He felt depressed to Aion.

He also felt hornless. Landing lightly, Aion folded his wings and walked up to him, stepping over to the smaller demon's side. Chrno didn't even look up at him, staring down at his hands.

"Waiting for me?" Aion asked lightly, probing at his mind carefully. There was a wall there. Chrno definitely still belonged to someone.

"I guess," he answered. "Is Rosette okay?"

Aion rolled his eyes, rather tired of hearing about the girl. He probed a little farther, looking for a weakness. Without Rosette there to guard his mind, he'd find a crack. It was how he stole demons from Pandemonium after all. She'd just had too many to always focus on them all and he knew Chrno's mind very well.

"She's fine," he told him instead. "She's keeping Joshua company. Do you want to see her?" He reached out to put a hand on his shoulder, stroking it up along the side of his head to caress his ear, a relaxing move for a demon. "I'll take you to her."

Chrno shuddered, leaning into the touch. "I can't," he mourned.

That was surprising. "Why not?" Aion asked, getting suspicious.

"Because my new master says no."

Aion felt the shift, felt the astral that suddenly flowed to the other demon, and saw his eyes change. Chrno swung around, flaring into his demon form, and he had Remington's bloody great sword. Aion bellowed, throwing himself back, and sped time to avoid the blow.

Chrno slowed it.

He lost half his hair to the first swing of the astral blade. Landing on his back, he rolled and the point of the sword dug into the ground where he'd been standing. Chrno wrenched it free and in desperation, Aion lunged at him, grabbing the hilt of the sword itself and pushing it back. Chrno fought him and they strained against one another, time flickering around them as Aion had images of that fight he'd had with Joshua, where they both nearly tore reality apart.

"What is it with you and masters?" he screamed at him. "What are you, some kind of whore?!" Time roared again, straining. Whoever Chrno was getting his power from this time, he wasn't holding back at all. He'd never used his time powers with Rosette. He'd killed Mary trying it with her.

The time fight stopped, both of them pulling back from the stalemate, and Chrno shoved him away. "I have no choice!" he shouted. "No one ever gives me a damned choice! Just _her_ and you took her away from me!" He slashed at him with the sword and Aion hauled his own out, his old horns flanking the hilt. It was slim and delicate looking, but strong enough to block the larger one swung at him. The impact sent a shock down his arms.

Now Aion understood where that pain he'd felt came from. Chrno didn't want his new master and they'd forced the issue. Whoever they were, they had no subtlety. Granted, Aion had no time for it himself at the moment either.

"Tell me where the Contractor is," he urged him as they battered away at each other, blocking blows or ducking them. "I'll kill him for you."

Chrno's face tightened, his ears quivering. "No more women," he gasped, "are going to die for me."

They both shot into the air, glowing golden with astral and still fighting. This fight was more concentrated than their last, less collateral damage happening, but Chrno was far more focused and Aion still wasn't sure he could kill him. He could feel his pain still, the hurt his Contractor caused him. He wanted to soothe that pain, get back in his mind, make him his. He'd make both Chrno and Rosette his and let them be together if he could, just to get his brother back.

First he had to cut off his power source though. Aion flew backwards, putting distance between them, and aimed his palm at the ground, firing a blast of energy. The hangar Chrno had been sitting outside exploded. Chrno's eyes widened, though his shape didn't waver. Missed.

"What are you doing?" he yelped.

"Killing your Contractor," he smirked. "She's got to be down there somewhere." If he hit _her_, Chrno would be vulnerable. He blew another hangar apart and Chrno lunged at him, howling.

---000---

The trucks raced through traffic, ignoring the lights and the people who dodged out of their way. They had no time to spare for anything, for if the Sinners realised there was a battle going on, they were finished.

Driving recklessly at the rear of the convoy, Remington looked in his rear view mirror and winced as he saw an explosion. Two tiny glowing figures twisted and clashed together above it. Chrno and Aion. Another explosion came and he started praying. Kate was underground by now, hiding in a storm sewer. Hopefully, that would be enough cover for her, since it looked like Aion had figured out what happened.

At least they wouldn't have to worry about him at the beach house. Not unless Chrno lost.

---000---

The master slave link didn't really go both ways. Aion could feel his Sinners, but none of them could really feel him, not unless he was right there and focused on them. Still, they moved through the house uncertainly, both Genai and Viede feeling somehow that something was wrong. He wasn't calling for them, but there was something off.

"I want to go look for him," Genai said suddenly, shifting at the breakfast table, his hands clasped around a mug of coffee that had long gone cold.

"Nope, nope," Shader sang. "He said to wait here. He doesn't want anyone to get in the way."

"What's he doing anyway?" Viede asked, frowning.

"Getting Chrno," she sang happily. "He's here. Aion went to bring him home."

Both demons stared at her, startled. "For real this time?" Viede asked doubtfully.

"For really real. He's coming home! Home, home, home!" She threw her arms around Fiore, who was passing with a mug of coffee for Joshua, and hugged her tightly. The doll tolerated it patiently. The other two demons grinned at each other. Aion wasn't the only one who wanted their lost family member back.

In the corner, Rosette shuddered and tried not to react. Chrno… she tried not to worry about him, or look out the window for Remington and the others. All she could do was wait, but it was unbelievably hard. Turning, Shader beamed at her and bounced out of the room. Rosette was still stressed, but she had to force down a smile. Even with the wards on, she could feel the edge of the cat's mind. She was still hers.

Maybe all of them would get out of this after all.

---000---

Shader skipped into her lab and over to the stasis tanks. She was a happy soul, content to make things and to obey orders. She'd been happy under Pandemonium, she was happy under Aion. Now she was happy under Rosette, not questioning her or looking ahead. To her mind, Rosette was the master now and if everything went perfectly, she'd take Viede and Genai too, and they'd all be a family together again, along with Chrno.

She didn't really think too much about Aion. Aion, Rosette, Pandemonium; they were all interchangeable.

Whistling, she logged into her computer and set it stop the tanks holding the five Acolytes. The tanks' humming stopped, the lids opening smoothly, and she laughed in delight as the five children emerged, coughing up goo and crying. There was one in particular that Rosette said to speak to.

"Azmaria Hendrick? Are you Azmaria Hendrick?" she asked one silver-haired girl.

"Y-yes," the girl managed and Shader hugged her warmly.

"It's so good to met you! I'm Shader and I'll be your rescuer for today." She waggled her tail and smiled at the children. "I hope you're ready to run, because I'm not a fighter." She giggled. _"They're_ coming soon." She looked at the security monitors on the computer, all showing men and woman surrounding the house, crossing by the alarms she'd turned off. "In fact, they're just about here now."

---000---

Gasping in pain and covered in sweat, Kate clutched the open watch to her and crouched in the corner of the storm drain, trying to breathe evenly but only managing to pant. She could see her life draining out on the watch, the glowing dial rolling backwards with alarming speed. Everything she had was flowing out of her, going into Chrno to fuel his battle and she hoped he finished soon, or she'd have nothing more to give him.

Something exploded far above, shaking her tomb. "Lo," she coughed, "though I walk through the valley of death, I will fear no evil…"

---000---

Kate was dying. Chrno could feel it, just like he'd felt it with Mary, after Aion stabbed his claws through his back and into her and he'd used her life to fuel their escape. He hadn't even known what it meant until she smiled at him and died.

Now he knew very well. Kate had only moments left and once she was gone, he would be helpless. Likely he would be dead, or so subsumed under Aion's will that he'd never know his own thoughts again. He'd probably be very happy that way, but his spirit would be dead.

Rosette… he thought desperately. He'd so wanted to see her again. To tell her everything in his heart... She knew. She'd always known.

Chrno dropped his guard and attacked, making no attempt to defend himself in his rush. Snarling, Aion brought his sword around and Chrno gasped as he ran onto it, the length of it punching right through him and out the back. Remington's sword struck then, driving through Aion's body, and the two demons were face-to-face, so close they could feel each other's breath as they stared at one another.

"Aion?" Chrno whimpered. "I'm sorry."

"I know," Aion coughed. "So am I." He put his arms around him, pushing the swords even deeper as he pulled his brother against him. Chrno put his own arms around him.

Together, they fell.

---000---

In the storm drain, Kate sagged against the wall, the watch tumbling out of her grip. The hands both stood at midnight.

---000---

Puzzled, Joshua looked towards the window. "Aion?" he asked.

"Is he back?" Viede asked, turning to look the way he was.

Rosette moved. Standing from her chair, she pulled the ward Shader had put around her neck off and stepped forward, slapping it against her brother's horns. He screamed, his eyes bulging as his entire body convulsed. Drawing her arm back, she slammed her elbow against the side of his head and he dropped.

Viede gaped at her, shocked. "How'd you get that off?" he gasped.

"Magic," Rosette told him and shifted to demon.

Fiore was already moving, pulling out a jewel as she moved to defend her master. Rosette braced herself and pulled a pistol out from underneath the loose shirt she wore. Fiore was yelling out her summoning command when Rosette blasted the gem out of her hand. Her second shot hit the doll between the eyes. Fiore reeled back and dropped.

Viede was still in shock. "What?" he gasped. Finally recognising the danger, he changed shape and came at her while Genai started shouting a warning from somewhere else in the house.

The windows exploded inward. Having expected it, Rosette dove for the floor while Viede tried to turn towards the new danger. A dozen Sacreds slammed into him, blowing him off his feet and into the wall. The soldier demon gasped, trying to scream, and a tall figure appeared at the shattered window.

"Good night," Remington told him and shot Viede in the face with a Gospel. The demon turned to ash.

Then Genai was there, leaping for the priest. Remington fell trying to get out of the way and a half dozen Sacreds from outside hit the blind demon. He shrieked and was airborne, outside and trying to escape. More shots sounded, firing at him. Hundreds of them.

"God bless the sniper," Remington gasped, pushing himself up.

"Father!" Rosette sobbed, throwing herself at him.

He hugged her warmly. "Thank God you're alright. Did they hurt you?"

"Not much." She pulled back, smiling. "We never could have done this without Shader."

"No, we couldn't have done it without you," he corrected. "I think we got them all. Are there any more?"

"Everyone else here is a good guy." She frowned. "Where's Chrno?"

"Fighting Aion," he told her truthfully and squeezed her when she paled. "It's his fight. We have other work to do. Who else is here?"

"Shader. She's freeing the Acolytes." She looked at her brother. "And him." He was still down from the ward, the special one Shader had prepared for her that she could take off. While Remington watched, Rosette crawled to his side and grasped one of his horns.

"What are you doing?" he asked her.

"This worked on Chrno," she growled and wrenched down, snapping the horn off at the base. Throwing it aside, she grabbed the other one and broke it off as well. That done, she stripped the ward off and looked down at him fearfully.

---000---

Joshua woke after what seemed a terrible nightmare. Looking up, he thought he was still dreaming since he saw his sister, only she was older, didn't have pigtails, and sprouted glorious golden wings out of her back.

"Rosette?" he gasped. "Is that you?"

Her eyes filled with tears. "Oh, Joshua!" she sobbed and threw herself at him. That was when Joshua realised he wasn't dreaming after all.

---000---

Frantically, Azmaria ran up the stairs, followed by the other children and Shader. She ran out into the kitchen and skidded to a halt. Everything in the house was full of bullet holes, the windows all broken and the furniture destroyed. Father Remington smiled at her from the living room, but Azmaria barely saw him. Instead she stared at a blonde-haired girl with half-demon, half-angel wings emerging from her back. She was hugging a blond man and crying.

"Rosette?" she gasped.

Rosette looked up and her eyes were the same blue the girl remembered. "Azmaria!" she gasped and held an arm open. Azmaria ran into it, hugging them both. "Azmaria, this is Joshua. Joshua, Azmaria."

The blond looked up at her blearily. "Hi," he managed. "Uh, Rosette, you're hugging me too tight. You're going to break a rib."

Azmaria laughed, not minding the tight hug at all. Her friend was all right, she was free, everything was all right. She looked around. "Where's Chrno?" she asked.

Rosette's grip tightened even more.

---000---

The police cars and fire trucks raced to the airport as the last explosion faded away, all of them dreading another disaster like the one that had levelled half the city. Two hangars were on fire, rubble strewn everywhere, and at the centre of the mess, they found a crater in the centre of the tarmac, lit by something inside.

"There's someone down there!" the lead cop shouted, leaping out of his car and running towards it. He reached the edge and stopped. "Oh, crap. Get the medics!"

Two people lay there, a man and a boy wrapped in a close embrace that would have been loving if they hadn't both been lying in a pool of blood with swords piercing their bodies. The boy clung to the man, his face hidden while the man held him with one arm, the other outstretched with the palm open. A small stone lay in the centre, spreading its glow over them both.

"Mary, Mother of God," the man breathed and went to see if either of them could be saved.

THE END 

_More coming. Review! Review!_


	16. Aftermath

AFTERMATH 

By Hydraa

_This is the sequel to "Retribution". It's occurred to me that I've been terribly hard on poor Chrno in the course of my stories. Recognizing that and liking the concept of repercussions, I've decided to get even meaner. ___

---000---

Joshua sat on the sand below a beach house he'd spent the last four years of his life living in and wondered what in the world ever happened to him.

He didn't really remember, not clearly. He'd been crazy, he knew that; Rosette had told him so and his few recollections felt so alien he couldn't doubt her. He also couldn't dwell on them. Not yet. Not while the very thought of doing so frightened him so badly.

It was better to think of his sister. She'd done so much to get him back it amazed him. In the first few tearful hours of their reunion, she'd told him about how Aion gave him Chrno's horns in order to get control of him. Of how he'd gone crazy and she'd made a Contract with Chrno that gave him energy to use his powers by draining the very life out of her. She'd have been dead already, she'd told him, if he hadn't made her into a demon herself. She hadn't said _how_ he did it, but the evidence was there, from the wings she'd been showing when he first woke up to the little horns sticking out of her hair while she sat beside him now.

Talking about Chrno had quietened her enthusiasm and she sat holding his hand, staring numbly out at the ocean when she wasn't asking him with a smile how he was doing. It was pretty obvious she was thinking about Chrno and that made her brother sad.

Joshua remembered him as a little boy with purple hair and wounded eyes, no taller than Joshua himself and very quiet. He'd lived at the caves holding the tomb they found him in and spent his days trailing after Rosette like a puppy, just like Joshua himself had. She'd been the sun to their moons, he supposed, while Chrono was their unique little friend and favourite secret. Joshua wasn't sure where all of that put _him_ in their circle, but he'd never felt left out of the friendship.

Apparently that friendship had taken his sister and Chrno farther than any of them ever would have expected. Rosette had admitted that she never would have found her brother if it wasn't for Chrno. He hadn't left her side from the moment Joshua was taken and he hoped he was found soon, so he could thank him for taking care of her.

He looked at his sister again out of the corner of his eye, dressed in her blue dress and headdress and gnawing on a thumbnail. "I still can't believe you're a nun," he said, smiling. "It's unreal. I thought you wanted to be an explorer."

"Oh, I've done some exploring," she laughed, grinning at him. "Trust me. I'll have to tell you about Eden sometime." At that, her smile suddenly faltered and she looked away quickly. What happened in Eden, he wondered? He didn't ask though. He'd had to absorb enough things already.

One of those things was coming across the sand towards them, dressed in pants and a sweater underneath a white lab coat and followed by a stern looking militia guard. Some of the few good memories he had of his time as Aion's thrall had been of Shader. She was a cuddler, he remembered, though he also recalled moments of her cowering in terror from him as well.

The other good memories were of a dark-eyed girl with a bob cut who wore a maid's uniform and spoke softly to him. He didn't know where she was though and every time he looked at the bullet holes that peppered the house, he was afraid to ask.

From what he'd been told, Shader was the last Sinner left. They didn't know about Aion yet of course, but the other two had been killed. Or so they hoped. Joshua had heard Father Remington pointing out to some others that they didn't see one of the demons fall, and if he'd turned to ash over the beach, they'd never find him.

The demon came up to Rosette, her ears swivelling around and her tail puffed up as though she were irritated. "I turned my files over like you asked," she said to her, pouting. "Do I get them back at all?" Her ears flattened briefly. "What am I supposed to do now?"

Joshua had no idea, but Rosette shrugged. "We have a whole lab for you back at the Order," she replied. "You'll love it. The guy who used to run it got to work on anything he wanted." Shader's ears came forward again and Rosette's grip tightened involuntarily on Joshua's hand. He doubted she'd even noticed she did it. "For now, can you help find Chrno?"

Her ears went back again. "Not really. I can't track him. Only Aion could."

"No?" Rosette asked, disappointment in her voice. "The Elder used to have a machine that could follow demons. He found us with it once while we were in a circle supposed to hide us."

Her eyes widened. "That can be done? Really??" She turned and ran back towards the house. "I'll figure it out! Promise!" Whooping excitedly, she raced inside, her guard sprinting after her.

Joshua laughed softly. "I think you've created a monster," he told her.

"I hope not," Rosette grumbled.

He grinned and went back to looking at the water, wondering what was going to happen to him now. He was sixteen when he should have been eleven, but while he didn't remember the last four years, he did feel older, and tired. Very tired. He suspected that if the memories ever returned, he was also going to feel very guilty as well. Chrno's horns hadn't been good for him and ultimately, the one thing he _was_ clear on was the fact that he'd accepted them. He'd hardly known what he was agreeing to, but he'd done it. Joshua was man enough to realize that he might just owe a very large debt for that.

If Rosette thought he did, she didn't say so. She was just happy to have him back and he wished Chrno was there as well, to make her smile again and share her joy with her.

"Rosette." Joshua looked back up the beach with her as Father Remington came towards them, his face grim. Rosette's grip on his hand turned painful.

"You know something?" she asked, making it sound almost like a statement. She started to stand.

Remington put a hand on her shoulder to stop her, his expression never changing. "We found them," he told her.

---000---

The hospital was the newest in San Francisco, one spared in the first fight between Aion and Chrno. Thanks to it, a lot of lives that otherwise would have been lost hadn't been and its doctors were some of the best in the country.

Rosette hurried with Azmaria and Joshua into the hospital, following behind Remington. Several high-ranking militia were standing in the foyer, arguing with a doctor, and Remington led the way up to them.

"Anything?" he asked.

One of the priests, a hardened man with dark hair and sideburns, frowned at him. "We found Kate first, since we knew where she was." He paused for a moment and Rosette wondered what he didn't want to say. "She's dead," he told them at last.

Rosette gasped and Azmaria started to cry. _Kate_ was dead?? Remington had told her she made a Contract with Chrno, that she took him to battle Aion while the rest of the militia attacked the beach house. Rosette had been looking forward to screaming at her for her presumption. Now she was dead? She couldn't imagine it and shuddered, not prepared to cry where everyone could see her.

"And Chrno?" Remington continued, his face pale. He was shaking, Rosette realised, but so was she.

The man's brow twitched and his frown deepened even further. "The paramedics brought in two people from the airport, a man and a boy, but they won't let us in to see them." He shot a vicious look at the doctor.

"They're far too critically injured," the doctor protested. "It's a miracle either of them survived at all. Any stress could kill them."

"If they're who we think they are, one of those two is the worst threat this world has ever seen!"

Rosette felt faint. A man and a boy? Aion and Chrno? "Where is he?" she gasped. With Kate dead, Chrno had no way to get astral. She had to go to him.

"In the Intensive Care ward," the doctor told her, "but none of you can-"

Rosette ignored whatever stupidity he was saying next, studying the map of departments hanging on the foyer wall. Intensive Care was down the hall, close to Emergency. Grabbing her brother by one hand and Azmaria by the other, she ran for the hall, the doctor yelping behind her. Two burly orderlies that had been standing there tried to stop her, but she bowled them right over and kept going.

"What are you doing?" Joshua protested, trying to get his arm free and slow down before he fell, but Azmaria ran as quick as she could beside her.

"We have to save Chrno!" the girl told him excitedly. "Hurry up!"

They raced down the hall, Remington and the other militia hurrying after them while a PA announcement sounded above ordering security to the Intensive Care ward.

It lay ahead through a solid set of wooden doors. Rosette banged through them and immediately a nurse was hurrying towards her wearing scrubs and a mask, exclaiming that she wasn't sterile and had to leave. Rosette ignored her and stared, horrified.

There were half a dozen people in beds in the room, all there for different reasons. Rosette could only look at two of the beds though. Aion lay in one, his face as pale as his hair and hooked up to so many tubes she almost couldn't recognise him. Chrno lay in the next, in his child form and so small that the same tubes that half covered Aion nearly hid him.

"Chrno!" she wailed, running forward while still dragging the two Acolytes along behind her "Chrno, wake up!" He didn't move and she couldn't feel his mind at all. Even asleep she could usually sense his presence and this was so horrifically wrong it made her head ache. How much astral did he have left? He'd taken everything Kate had, but she hadn't been a young woman and he'd been terribly hurt. She could see the dark threads of suture lines on his chest, but she couldn't see his face under all the wires, tubes, and the oxygen mask. With them in the way, she couldn't feed him herself, but they were the only things keeping him alive. The machines he was hooked up to beeped with increasing slowness.

She could only think of one other thing to do. "Azmaria," she gulped, praying that this time it worked, that all her months in Shader's healing tanks had brought her abilities back. "Please, heal him!"

The girl didn't even question her. Immediately, Azmaria started to sing, her beautiful voice echoing through the room as wings appeared out of her back. They glowed a brilliant white, shining in the room and stopping everyone in their place, except one man.

"No!" Remington shouted. "Azmaria, no!"

She sang, Rosette watching her with desperate hope, Joshua in surprise. He looked at her and then at his sister, and suddenly he started to sing as well. His voice wasn't as beautiful as Azmaria's, but the wings that appeared on his back were.

"NO!"

The patients in the ward began to stir, waking up from whatever wounds they'd had, healing from their combined song. They sang of peace and love, of healing and salvation, and Chrno stirred, his hand lifting slightly. Rosette threw herself down beside his bed, grasping it with both of her own tearfully.

"Chrno," she sobbed. "Oh, Chrno!"

Aion erupted out of the other bed.

Azmaria shrieked, her song ending as he went past her, shifting to his demon form. Joshua yelped and fell backwards as he vaulted over him and Rosette tried to get up, only Chrno wouldn't let go of her hand. Remington and the other militia struggled to get their weapons out, but there was hardly any room to do so without hitting each other and Aion moved amazingly fast. He slammed through them, wings half furled, and was out the door, running down the corridor. Rosette could hear the screams as he passed people out there. Remington raced after him, cursing, along with the other militia.

"Oh, applesauce," Rosette muttered.

"I… hadn't thought of that," Azmaria admitted, trembling, while the other patients in the ward sat up, exclaiming in amazement.

At that moment, Rosette didn't care what Aion did. Chrno needed her; she could feel his pain and confusion. Kate had taken him, she realised, made herself his master, and then left him alone and empty. A rage she didn't recognize but that both Aion and Pandemonium would have recognized filled her, an anger at seeing what was _hers_ to protecttaken away. She didn't articulate that thought though as Joshua knelt across from her, helping her pull the tubes and mask off. Chrno had one down his throat and he gagged when Rosette pulled it out, not expecting it to be so long.

"He hasn't changed at all," Joshua gasped, looking down at him in shock. The same little boy he remembered lay there, the only difference being the long braid tied with a scrap of leather and his utter exhaustion. He looked up at Joshua and his slitted eyes widened.

"J-Joshua?" he whispered, his voice barely audible. Rosette leaned over him then, calling his name, and he made a bizarre mewling sound, turning towards her. He reached out, desperate for her, and she wrapped her arms around him, pressing her cheek against the top of his head. All Joshua saw was the embrace and turned to smile at Azmaria, who smiled back, just as delighted to see the two reunited again.

Neither of them saw what else happened. Chrno's mind was battered, his walls broken down and his spirit scarred. Unintentionally, Kate had been as brutal as Pandemonium and far more intimate in that she focused solely on him instead of thousands. Even as she failed to give him the comfort he needed, she made him dependant on her and Chrno was reeling from both her death and his own relief at it, along with his guilt.

"I killed Kate," he whispered, unable not to mourn.

"No, you didn't, baby," she told him just as softly. "Come on, let me in."

Chrno sighed and surrendered to her, opening the doors that had always closed his mind from every other demon and that not even Kate had been able to break. She'd battered them, but only his death could have come from her breaking through.

Rosette slid in smoothly, her own tensions easing as she found her way back into his mind again, careful to be more gentle than she'd ever been before in the face of his weakness. She soothed his mind, flooded it with the absolute awareness she had of him, her unrelenting determination to protect him; to be his strength for him and his will when he had none. Chrno in return gave himself to her and they both felt the bond reform, that only _she_ would command him, that only _she_ would own him. Tilting his head back, she pressed her lips to his and breathed as much astral as she could into him, ignoring Azmaria's delighted squeal behind her.

Chrno shimmered unwittingly, shifting to his adult form for her.

"Holy crap!" Joshua gasped, jumping back.

"I didn't know he could look like that," Azmaria breathed, her eyes huge.

Chrno was drifting off, falling asleep now that he felt safe. Rosette kept a steady hold on his mind, even as she let him settle back into the bed and pulled the cover up to his chin. "He can. He only kept the boy form to save on energy." She looked at her brother. "He's going to be okay now."

"You kissed him," Joshua managed, pointing at the demon. He looked at her. "When you did, I saw a light going from you and into him. What was that?"

"Astral," she told him and pointed at her horns. "From these. I have to feed him some of my astral every day or he'll die." She looked back down at her lover, determined not to leave his side, not until he got his mental strength back. Until it did, she'd tear anyone who tried to harm him apart. Shader too she supposed, since the idea of anyone hurting the cat bizarrely bothered her now, and she wondered what Chrno would think when he found out she had a second demon obeying her now.

Not that she planned to have anything with Shader that was remotely close to the kind of relationship she had with him.

Joshua just shook his head. "Good thing Mom's not around. She'd have freaked if she knew you were kissing an older man."

Rosette didn't answer as the doctor hurried up, flustered, saw that his patient had aged about ten years, and wandered away in a daze. She couldn't really think of what to say to him and had to hide a blush by turning away.

---000---

Two days later, they were ready to go home, and that delay had only been so they could disassemble Shader's lab, to her intense concern, and load it up on trucks that would be taken to the airport for transport. Remington had already gone ahead, with Kate's body and most of the militia. With her dead, he was in charge of the New York Order and he looked more than a little overwhelmed when he left.

Rosette stayed behind with her brother, Azmaria, and Chrno. She wanted time to reconnect to Joshua, to keep an eye on Shader as she watched her lab vanish into boxes and became increasingly more hysterical as it did, and to let Chrno rest. Other than Shader's very vocal misery and Azmaria's tendency to burn everything she cooked, it was a good time.

The best part of that last day was when she went for a walk with her two men, both of them wandering on either side of her and talking about whatever moved them. Actually, Rosette did most of the talking, telling her brother nearly everything that had happened in his absence. The reality of Chrno being her lover she skipped somewhat though, not sure how to tell her little brother she was living in sin with his childhood best friend. He'd seen they were sharing a room, but he hadn't said anything. Rosette wasn't sure if that was because he'd figured it out, or because he hadn't. She didn't know how to bring it up. He was immensely impressed that she was a demon now though, and disappointed that she wasn't a good enough flyer yet to take him anywhere.

Chrno declined his not-so-subtle invitation to take him flying as well, just smiling and dropping back to walk behind them. Joshua pouted and started muttering that it was no good to have wings of his own if he couldn't pop them out whenever he wanted to.

Rosette had to laugh at him. "It's not all it's cracked up to be," she told him.

"Sure. Like you _don't _want to look all impressive."

"Well," she hedged and he laughed. A dozen feet behind them, Chrno lurched and collapsed to the sand, shuddering. Neither of the siblings noticed, looking towards the beach house. Despite the damage, they were staying there while Shader packed, not willing to leave the place unsecured. From it, Rosette could smell a savoury scent.

"It looks like Azmaria managed not to burn something for once," she said happily and gestured over her shoulder without looking back. "Come on, Chrno," she called. "We better hurry before she does burn it."

Chrno forced himself to his hands and knees, swaying, and with a massive effort, got back onto his feet. Gagging, he hurried after them, sure not to let them see what happened. He was just tired, he told himself; he didn't need to worry Rosette when she was finally so happy. Reaching her side, he smiled down at her as she looped an arm around his and beamed up at him.

No, she deserved her happiness.

---000---

Brushing her hair, Rosette came out of the bathroom and walked towards the large bed that backed onto a great set of windows overlooking the ocean. The master bedroom had been Aion's, but neither of them ever mentioned that, even as they took it over. Chrno lay against the headboard, looking across the room at nothing.

"You don't look well," Rosette told him in concern, sitting beside him to put a hand on his forehead. It was a little warm. "Are you sick?"

He shrugged. "I don't feel so good. I didn't want to worry you."

"Idiot," she told him, bapping him lightly on the head. "I don't like you suffering. Do you want anything?"

"Just you," he said and reached for her. Rosette hummed happily and slid under the sheets with him. Whatever he was sick from, it didn't seem to affect his ardour. Chrno's touch was everywhere, his mouth warm and his body hot, and he made her forget her concerns as he loved her with all his heart.

---000---

Sometime after Rosette fell asleep, Chrno shot awake. If she'd been lying against him, she would have woken immediately, but as it was, she was lying on the other side of the huge bed with her back to him, and she didn't even stir as he bolted out of the bed and into the bathroom, barely reaching the toilet before he vomited.

He'd never thrown up before. It was a horrible feeling. His stomach tightened painfully, his nose and mouth not seeming able to draw in enough air. He trembled, shifting to his boy shape, and just hunched there for a few minutes, trying to breathe. Finally forcing himself up, he stumbled back into the bedroom and looked at his lover.

"Rosette," he gasped. "Rosette." She didn't wake, snoring noisily, and he staggered out to the hall, heading for a small room at the end. The door was open and he leaned against the jamb, looking in.

"Shader," he groaned. Her ears pricked up and she looked at him, her eyes glowing in the dark. "I feel awful." With that, he slid to his knees.

She was there immediately, mewling as she put on her glasses and knelt before him, sniffing his face and taking his temperature. "What's wrong?" she asked, feeling his neck.

"I'm sick."

"I can see that. And they packed _all_ my stuff. Wait here." She vanished, racing off lightly, and he leaned against the jamb, closing his eyes. A moment later, he was asleep.

Shader woke him, holding a glass up to his lips. "Drink." It was cold and chalky, bitter on his tongue. Chrno drank most of it and gagged.

"Better?" she asked him with interest.

Amazingly, his stomach was starting to settle. "Yes, what is it?"

"A pain killer and an antinauseant. It's good for colds. It's all I still had unpacked." Her ears twitched. "How long have you been sick?"

"This time?" he muttered, wiping his mouth. He could still taste the potion and a bit of his vomit and wanted to rinse his mouth out.

"This time? How many times are we talking about?"

"Um, I was only sick… twice. Three times?" He thought about it, getting his timelines mixed up. "Before I fought Aion. I had a bad cold. Or did I get that fever first? Or was that when I was shot? Maybe that was after."

Her ear twitched. "Yes? No? Start at the beginning. I know Aion ripped your horns out and you went into an astral depletion coma for fifty years. He had me check you a few times."

"He had me check you?" he gaped. "I mean, you check me?"

"Of course, you were family. Demons usually die when they lose their horns, you know." She tapped her lips. "Tell me the rest, after Rosette woke you."

"Um." He thought about it and shivered. Shader grabbed a blanket and wrapped it around him. "Bumps, bruises, got knocked around some. Nothing really big until I was run through by a worm demon's spikes. Then I got thrown through a window frame by Satella's knight. I nearly died from both of those."

"I heard about them from Aion," she told him. "He was pissed. I thought you were coming home. I had the balloons ready and everything."

He smiled faintly. "Sorry. Um, what else? I got ordered to die because of these Oaths I'd taken. I was put in a room where time froze. I was shot through the chest by Dafau. I got my horns regrown, then got into a fight with Aion and Rosette ripped them out again. Then I got sick, started to get better, got sick again. Started to get better, got sick again. Then got in another fight with Aion, ran out of astral, got in _another _fight with Aion, and now we're here." He frowned. "I have to get better at ducking or something."

One of her ears drooped. "And that's all in the last year?" she asked incredulously.

"Yeah."

"And you're not dead yet?"

He glared at her. "I hope not!"

Shader grinned at him. "Silly boy." She ruffled his hair and stood, hauling him up with her. "Stay in this form. When I get my lab back, and I better get my lab back or I'm going to be really cranky and you know what I'm like when I'm cranky, I'll look you over."

She helped him back to his room, Chrno feeling a lot better for what she'd given him but still so tired. She led him into the room and left him to lean over Rosette.

"Meow?" she said. No response. "WAKE UP!" Grabbing the snoring blonde by the shoulder, she shook her frantically. "HI THERE!"

Rosette came awake, shrieking and swearing. "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU??"

Shader just smirked at her. "Chrno's sick. Thought you should know."

Rosette gaped at her for a moment while Joshua and Azmaria appeared in the doorway, wiping sleep out of their eyes and pulling on robes.

"What's going on?" Joshua asked sleepily.

Rosette didn't answer him, staring at Chrno. "You're sick?" Immediately, she was out of bed, checking his forehead and guiding him back to his side of the bed, settling him down. "Are you going to be okay for the plane trip tomorrow? We'll miss Kate's funeral otherwise."

"I'll be okay," he promised. "Shader gave me something. I feel better already."

He settled down while she anxiously barked orders at the other three, sleepy enough that he nodded off while she was still going. Shader happily let Rosette throw her out of the room, but her gaze never left the other demon until she was in the hallway, and she was very worried.

---000---

Rosette in the lead, the five of them hurried through the airport. They'd just seen the cargo plane with Shader's lab in it off, and it was packed so full they were booked on a separate, commercial flight. Rosette was looking forward to it, having been promised first class. She and Joshua chattered on about where they'd _like_ to take the plane while Azmaria hurried after them, dragging a pink suitcase.

Chrno brought up the rear, walking beside Shader. Tech demons didn't need to change shape at all, so she couldn't and hid both her cat ears and down curving horns with a bizarre woollen cap with earflaps. Her tail she wrapped around her waist. She didn't look entirely human, but neither did he with his pointed ears and slitted eyes.

Shader hadn't left his side since he got up that morning, even getting herself yelled at by Rosette when she followed him into the bathroom.

"Are you planning to stop hovering?" he asked her wearily. Rosette was pulling ahead, nearly charging forward with Joshua now. Azmaria was sweating as she hurried after them.

"Nope," she told him. "Why are you in your adult form?"

Surprised, Chrno looked down at himself to see he was indeed in his adult form, his red shorts and coat replaced by plain brown pants and a poncho. "When did that happen?" he wondered.

"About thirty seconds ago. Some tourist walked into a pole staring at you." Her nose wrinkled. "How many fingers am I holding up?" She jammed a blurry hand in his face.

"Hurry up!" Rosette yelled from up ahead. "Our plane is leaving in ten minutes and I still want ice cream!"

Chrno couldn't focus on the fingers. He shuddered, a wave of unwellness rising in him, and closed his eyes for a moment, reeling. He took another step and seemed to catch on something, a weight suddenly dragging on the floor behind him. Someone started screaming.

"Chrno," Shader sang. "I think you're in trouble."

He reopened his eyes, looking down at her. In the reflection of her glasses, he could see his face, his _demon_ face, with the ridges of bone framing his eyes and the tufted ears below the metal caps that covered his horns. The weight he was dragging was his wings, sagging on the ground along with his tail. Passengers in the terminal were staring at him in horror, some running away and screaming.

Chrno gagged, his mouth filling again, and reeled, turning. He saw a Rosette-shaped blur racing towards him and groaned. Shader reached for him and he fell, slamming hard onto his back. The cat demon bent over him, saying something, and Rosette joined her, but he couldn't understand either of them. A whistle sounded and he thought he heard a train. He needed to catch it.

A moment later, he was gone.

THE END 

That looks like a good place to end it (ducks and runs from the tomatoes). More is coming.


	17. Astral Line

ASTRAL LINE 

By Hydraa

_This is the sequel to "Aftermath". Wow, did I actually put two whole words in the title?_

---000---

Rosette turned around just in time to see Chrno die.

Her scream echoed through the terminal as she ran forward, his death resounding in her mind even louder than the sound of his body falling bonelessly to hit the floor. He was in his demon form, she couldn't figure out why he was in his demon form, but he was lying there and she could see his chest wasn't moving and _she couldn't feel him._

"Chrno!" she sobbed, skidding to her knees beside him. "No, Chrno, no!" He wasn't supposed to just fall down dead in some stupid air terminal. "Don't you _dare!"_ The last word was a shriek. His eyes were half closed, black tar oozing slowly out of his mouth and nose. "Damnit!" Joshua dropped to his knees behind her, pulling her back into his arms. People started to gather around, amazed, and she shrieked at them, ready to kill anyone who touched him. He was dead, he was dead… She couldn't stop crying.

Shader ignored her tirade, running one hand up Chrno's bared chest until she found the breastbone. Wedging her palm over top of it, she laid her other palm over the first hand and leaned over him, suddenly pressing down quickly and sharply. "One, two, three, four, five," she chanted. "Two, two, three, four, five. Three, two, three, four, five." With each count, she pumped down and at the end, rested her ear against his chest, listening. Frowning, she stuck a finger in his mouth, scooping the black goo out, and tilted his head back, opening his mouth wider. Laying her own over it and forming a seal, she exhaled into him, listened, and did it again four more times. That done, she put her hand to his throat. Frowning at what she found, she went back to pumping his chest and counting.

Rosette stared at her, baffled but desperate to grab onto anything. Joshua hugged her tightly, staring fearfully over her shoulder while Azmaria was somewhere behind them both, sobbing.

"What are you doing?" she gulped.

"Cardiopulmonary resuscitation," the cat told her without slowing her count. "Getting him breathing and his heart going again. It's fantastic. It just takes a lot of work." She bent over his mouth, breathing into him, and took an extra moment after blowing air to force a great gout of astral into him as well. Then she went straight back to pumping.

Shader could bring him back. Rosette latched onto that and forced herself to her feet. "Get back," she growled, shoving at the gathered people. "Give her room." Airport security was arriving and she turned on them, flashing her badge. "Clear this area," she ordered. "And stop that flight to New York, on the authority of the Holy Order of Magdalena." They nodded, staring at the lifeless demon and ready to do just about anything she said, just to get out of there. They scrambled to obey and she turned back to Chrno and Shader, her anger the only thing keeping her from losing whatever control she had left.

Shader was breathing into Chrno again. She finished her five count and checked for his pulse. Frowning, she looked fearfully at Rosette and scrambled for the bag she'd been planning to bring on the plane. "I knew he was sick," she muttered to herself, talking out loud. "I knew he'd been through too much for his legions. I should have kept my lab up, I should have kept the full kit. Dug this one out last night, hoped I wouldn't need it." She hauled out a square box and snapped it open, withdrawing a needle that had to be a foot long and thick enough to nearly double as a pencil. It was full of a clear liquid already and she tugged off the cap.

"What are you going to do with that?" Rosette gasped, cringing.

"Shoot it right into his heart," Shader told her happily. "One hundred percent adrenaline!"

Before Rosette could even think that she might even want to stop her, Shader had hauled the needle up and slammed it down into Chrno's chest, between the bones of the ribcage and into his heart. She shoved the plunger down and suddenly he was sitting up, gasping for breath and staring at the massive needle sticking out of his chest in confusion.

He was back in Rosette's mind as well, just that quickly. "Chrno!" she shouted, dropping to her knees and throwing her arms around him. "You're okay!"

"No, he's not," Shader sang, repacking the needle. "I need my lab."

Rosette spun on her brother. "Make sure that plane hasn't left," she snarled. He blinked and ran off, Azmaria following him.

"What's going on?" Chrno whimpered, coughing.

"You died," Shader told him cheerily.

"Don't do that again," Rosette sobbed. "You scared me so badly."

"I, uh…" He was already sagging against her, weakening. "I'm so tired."

"Don't go to sleep!" she begged, afraid of what would happen if he did. "Change back to a boy, it uses less astral."

"He can't," Shader told her seriously. "I knew he was really bad when he shifted. I can't do anything more here. I only have the one needle."

Growling, Rosette hauled Chrno up, Shader taking his other side as they partially helped, but mostly carried him down the hall to where their plane waited, Joshua standing anxiously at the door. Rosette picked Chrno up then, carrying him bodily onto the plane, and glared at the stewardess that came to meet her. "I'm taking over first class," she growled at her. "Clear it out now."

The woman looked at her, and at Chrno, and paled.

First class was opulent, the chairs leather and the tables edged with gold. Rosette didn't care about any of that, just that the chairs reclined all the way that so a passenger could sleep. She lowered Chrno into one and covered him with blankets, kissing his forehead. Her anger she clung to. She had to stay mad to stay focused.

"Can he sleep?" she asked Shader.

"Sure. It'll be good for him."

She brushed Chrno's hair away from his eyes. "Go to sleep, baby. We'll be in New York soon."

"I saw a train," he told her fuzzily. "I was getting on it when I woke up. Will I see it again?"

She swallowed a lump. "Not for a long time. Dream of our lake instead."

"Okay." He drifted off.

Rosette stood and spun on Shader. "Tell me what the hell is wrong with him, _now."_

The cat cowered immediately and Rosette forced herself to take a deep breath. "Thank you for saving his life, Shader. You were wonderful. Please, tell me what's happening."

The cat pulled off her cap and wiggled her ears, her lips pursed pensively. "He told me last night about all the times he's been hurt or sick."

"Yeah," Rosette agreed, remembering them unwillingly herself. "But he always got better."

Shader shook her head no. "Not really, not really. His legions triiiied, but they got weaker each time and then he kept getting hurt again before they fully recovered. And he kept getting sick. That made it worse. He got sick more because his legions were sick, and you just don't have the ability to give him enough astral for them to stay healthy." She lifted a finger, showing a smudge of black on it. "They're shutting down now. That's what he was coughing up last night. Dead legions." She peered at her finger curiously. "I thought they were, but I wasn't sure at first because my microscope was one of the first things they packed and they'd already taken it to the airport and I had to guess and I hate guessing. Guesses suck. Him going back to demon really showed it. They reverted to their default state, so bam, he went demon, and of course _that_ took more astral and he didn't have enough and he died."

Rosette swallowed, heavily, suddenly having to sit down. Her heart felt like someone had shoved a spike in it. Chrno's legions were dying? "But you know what this is," she said to her. "You know what to do. What would they do for this in Pandemonium?"

The cat shrugged. "Euthanize him."

She didn't recognize the word. "What does that mean?"

"Kill him."

Rosette surged out of the chair, not noticing as Joshua grabbed her arm, trying to calm her down. The airplane was rumbling, starting to move out to the runway, and she thought distantly that it was a good thing as it meant she wouldn't have to tear the pilot's head off.

"You can't kill Chrno!"

Shader rolled her eyes. "Like I have the ingredients for the injection with me _here_. Sheesh!"

Rosette looked down at Chrno. He was pale, but she could see his chest rising. He didn't seem to have the faintest idea they were talking about him. "Can you save him?" she whimpered. "Is he going to die?"

"I don't know," the cat admitted, her ears drooping. She was reacting to her misery, Rosette realised, unhappy because her master was. "If I can get a tank up, I can put him in there, but it'll take days to assemble and reset them. Which I told everyone but oh no, they insisted. He might last that long, if we're lucky and he stays real quiet. And if we keep his astral levels high enough. Enough astral can do just about anything for a demon."

Rosette nodded, studying her intently. "But the tank can heal him?"

"Given enough time in it. I think. I've never used them to rebuild a demon's legion supplies before. It's easier to replace them, but I can't actually make legions. They only create new copies inside a host they're programmed for, or in Pandemonium's vats."

So he just needed lots of astral and new legions. Rosette looked at the cat intently. "Is there somewhere else that a demon can get legions?"

---000---

Father Remington walked into Sister Kate's old office with a great sense of trepidation. It had been cleaned out while they were gone, the window replaced and the walls replastered where they'd been damaged. Her desk was even there, more scratched than before, but intact.

It felt wrong to be there, wrong that it wasn't Sister Kate. He wasn't a leader, he was just a militia member who liked his freedom and taking risks. He wasn't the type to be in charge of a massive organization of people.

Only, there was no one else. Not now and likely not for a while. Whether he wanted it or not, the office was his and he'd be doing Kate's memory no favours by letting the work she'd started slide while he regretted the loss of his freedom. She'd lost a great deal more.

Slowly, he crossed the room and sat down behind the desk, finding the chair as uncomfortable as he'd always imagined it. He sighed again and looked at the work piled on the desk. He wasn't even sure where to start. At the top, he supposed. Taking the first folder off the pile, he opened it and started to read.

An hour later, the phone rang. His eyes already aching, Remington lifted his head from his work and picked up the receiver. "Father Remington here… Oh, hello, Joshua. How are you…?" He listened and all the blood ran out of his face. "Yes, we'll be there. When are you landing…? We'll be there. Tell him I'm praying for him."

Remington hung up the phone and stared at it for a moment before he stood and hurried out to get everyone moving.

He hated this job.

---000---

The airplane landed with delicate smoothness, barely sending a ripple of discomfort through its passengers. In the main body of the plane, the passengers sat crowded together, not daring to speak and risk waking the demon in the first class cabin, not after the last man who voiced his protests ended up thrown across the cabin by a golden winged monster dressed like a nun. As the plane landed, they sighed, hoping that this meant it would be over soon, but still they didn't speak, all of them afraid to.

In the first class cabin, Joshua lifted his head as the plane touched down. He'd dozed off, Azmaria asleep with her head in his lap, and he looked across the cabin at his sister.

She was still sitting where he'd last seen her, beside Chrno's makeshift bed with a long tube running from her arm to his. Shader sat on the other side, doing the same thing to Chrno's other arm. She'd told them all that the transfusion was only temporary, that their legions wouldn't accept Chrno's body and would shut down in a matter of days themselves, but it was better than nothing. He even looked a little better and hadn't had a coughing fit where he hacked up black gunk for hours.

Rosette was asleep, her head resting on Chrno's chair next to his. He'd turned his own head towards hers and they looked so peaceful together that he had to smile. He'd figured out pretty quickly that they were lovers, but hadn't been entirely sure how to react to it. Chrno was the little boy who played tag and went fishing with them. It was hard to imagine his big sister doing _that_ with him. He didn't appear nearly so innocent in his demon form, but they did look like they belonged together. They were happy, so happy he felt a little bit like a third wheel. For his sister's sake, Joshua really hoped that Chrno lived.

The plane taxied, slowing, and Shader looked towards him for a moment, her eyes sparkling. He had no idea how she could be so cheerful all of the time, but she was. He supposed it was just natural for her. "I think we're here," she said optimistically and Rosette woke.

"What?" she asked, looking around. Her attention returned to Chrno immediately and Shader checked his pulse. "Is he okay?"

"Nope. But he isn't any worse, so I guess he's better." The cat grinned at her and checked the tubes. Shaking Azmaria awake first, Joshua went to join them.

"I wish I could just heal him," he said wistfully.

"Nope, nope," Shader told him, shaking her head. "I _tooold_ you. It just makes his legions work harder. They don't like that. He's gonna have to do this the long way." She patted Chrno on the head, making him groan, and cringed before Rosette could get angry at her. "Sorry!"

Rosette just glared, apparently unaware of how intimidating she looked, even with her hair mussed and drool on her chin. "I'm not going to beat you, Shader. It's jake."

The plane stopped and there were mechanical chunking sounds. Joshua started towards the hatch, wondering if he should open it, and it opened on its own. Immediately, Father Remington stepped inside, accompanied by militia.

"Father!" Azmaria cheered, running up to hug him. He smiled down at her and looked at Rosette.

"How is he?"

"Sleeping," she answered sombrely. "His legions are failing, Father. We need Shader's tanks."

"Then we'll have to reassemble them." He gestured and the men moved forward. Without waking him or disturbing the tubes, they transferred Chrno to a gurney and took him out of the airplane, Rosette and Shader scrambling to keep close enough. The priest looked at Joshua. "You said it was close."

Joshua shuddered. "He was gone, Father. For real gone. He died right in front of me." He looked away. "He died in front of Rosette. Shader brought him back, but he needs help."

"Then he'll get it. He's one of us." He stroked Azmaria's hair and pushed her back so he could take her hand instead and lead her out of the plane. With only a glance through the curtain at the rest of the plane's passengers, Joshua followed them.

---000---

The night sky was beautiful, clear and full of stars. Rosette sat on the stone bench outside the women's barracks, which still served as the Order's hospital after the original infirmary was destroyed in the fight against the Sinners. Staring upwards at the stars, she tried to calm her mind and her breathing, focusing on drawing in as much astral as she could. Her horns ached, but she didn't care. The more astral she and Shader could collect, the more they could give Chrno.

The cat demon didn't even have to focus on it. _Her_ horns were nearly six inches long. She didn't have next to useless stubs like Rosette did. She could give Chrno more astral in one kiss than Rosette could in a dozen.

Tears burned her eyes, but she wiped them away and focused. Draw in astral, draw in astral…

Joshua walked out of the barracks and over to her, sitting down at her side. He was carrying two coffee cups and handed her one. Rosette took it gratefully, her focus lost again.

"Thanks," she said.

"No problem." He sipped his own coffee, looking upwards at the stars. "It's a beautiful night out."

"It is," she agreed. It made her want to weep again, since Chrno couldn't see it. Shader had him heavily sedated to lower his astral draw as much as she could. He was still in demon form, making Rosette's astral even more important. She closed her eyes and focused. Draw in astral…

"I can see the astral line from here," Joshua told her suddenly.

Rosette started, losing her focus again, and stared at him. "You can?"

He nodded thoughtfully. "I could sometimes, before. Now I can all the time. A leftover present from those horns, I suppose. It's running right along there." He pointed upwards and drew his finger along the skyline, right over their heads. "It's beautiful."

Rosette stared along the way he was pointing, but couldn't see anything. "I can't see it."

"It's there." He smiled contentedly. "I like being able to look at it. It's calming." He sipped his coffee. "Do you remember when we were kids, and Chrno told us that story about how everyone who dies goes up to the astral line and becomes part of it, like some sort of great big ocean?"

Rosette's lip started to tremble and she had to put her cup down before she spilled it. Joshua looked at her and realized what he'd said. "Oh! Rosette, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean it like that, I wasn't thinking!"

With a sob, she flung herself against him, crying hysterically. "Oh, Joshua! I don't want him to die! I don't ever want him to die! But I'm so scared!"

Joshua held his sister tightly, whispering promises he wasn't sure of and that she didn't hear.

"It's not fair!" she wailed. "We went through so much to find you! He got hurt all those times helping me find you! It's all my fault! He did whatever I wanted him to!" She was crying so hard she could barely breathe. "He always did what I wanted him to! Now I have you back and he's dying. Why can't I have you both at once? What did I do that I can't have both my brother and my lover?? Does God hate me?"

"He doesn't hate you," Joshua promised her. "Maybe… maybe it's just Chrno's time."

"No! I won't let him go!"

Joshua tightened his grip on his sister. He didn't like the thought of Chrno leaving them either, but if he died and Rosette didn't accept it, it would destroy her.

"Is that necessarily the best thing for Chrno?" he asked instead.

She pulled back and looked at him. "What do you mean?"

He shrugged, looking up at the astral line that only he could see. "He'll hold on forever for you if he can, no matter how much it hurts. Maybe the best thing for him now is _not_ to hold on." He looked down at her and sighed, wiping her cheeks free of tears. "I don't know the answer. I just know he's in pain."

"He is?" she whispered.

"Yeah. I can feel it whenever I'm near him." Chrno was locked on her, unable to let go and knowing on some level he was letting her down. He tried not to, but he had no control over what his legions did anymore. "He's suffering."

Her eyes filled again. "How will I ever survive without him?"

"I don't know. But I'll help you. We all will."

---000---

Shader's healing tanks were half assembled, the cat and a whole team of militia scientists working insanely long hours to get them working again. Rosette watched them for a time, thinking, and finally went to see Chrno.

He was lying in one of the barrack rooms, surrounded by Shader's machines. Something she called an IV dripped something else she called saline into him and somehow, a tube leading to his forearm kept him asleep. He was ashen, his ears drooping and his wings strapped to his sides. More tubes were up his nose and a mask over his face did his breathing for him. The machines beeped softly, working steadily. Life support, Shader had called it. Chrno would have died again already without it and the cat's ears flattened every time she looked at the monitors, before she went back out again and redoubled her efforts with the tanks.

Rosette didn't know what the monitors meant. She walked up to his bed and stared at him before looking at the man sitting in the corner near his head. "What are you doing here, Father?" she asked.

Remington lifted a bible in his lap. "Just in case I'm needed," he told her softly.

Last rites. Rosette had to swallow hard. "T-thank you," she managed and went to kneel on the other side of Chrno's bed.

"Chrno," she whispered. "Can you hear me?" She couldn't tell. Even his mind was closed to her. "I wanted to see you. I wanted to tell you I love you." She bit her lip, her voice thickening. "And I wanted you to know, if you can't stay here any longer, it's okay for you to go."

She started to cry again and choked it down. "I mean it, Chrno, don't you stay here for me. We'll try and get the tanks running and I'm working real hard to get enough astral for you… I wish I had enough astral. I wish I had horns three miles long so I could have enough for you."

"How much astral does he need?" Remington asked quietly. "I thought he needed the tank."

Rosette looked over the bed at him. "More than me and Shader have," she said. "I don't know how much. Shader said his legions could heal themselves if they got enough."

"Oh," he said. "That's interesting."

Not really caring what he thought, Rosette turned back to Chrno, laying her head on his chest and trying not to cry anymore as the priest left the room, looking for Shader.

---000---

Chrno was back on the train. He sat there dazedly, not really thinking about anything as it rattled along, shaking him gently. There wasn't much to see, the outside as filled with mist as the inside, and while there were other people there, they were all cloaked and he couldn't see anyone's faces. Nor did they speak. Everyone just sat there in silence.

Where were they going? he wondered, and how long had he been there? He couldn't remember. He couldn't really remember much of anything, or quite figure out what roused him. It was crying, he thought slowly. He could hear a woman crying.

Rosette was crying. Chrno snapped up, suddenly aware again, and he stared in bafflement at the train car he was in. It was peaceful there, so much so he was tempted to relax once more, but he could hear Rosette, wailing, and he ran out into the aisle, looking for her. More people were out there, all cloaked, but he could still hear her, echoing in the mist all around them.

"Rosette," he shouted. "Rosette, where are you?" Wings flaring, he ran down the aisle, dodging around other passengers and struggling to see through the mist. "Rosette!"

"She's not here. You're hearing the memory of her."

Chrno spun at the sound of the soft voice, his tail rising defensively. A small, cloaked figure stood before him, her pale hands folded demurely before her. "What?" He knew that voice.

"Its just your own mind resisting, Chrno. Rosette has given you your freedom to go."

She lifted her hands, pulling the hood back, and he stared at Mary's serene face, his eyes widening.

"Where am I going?" he whispered. Oh, God in Heaven, _Mary…_

She stepped forward and put a hand on the cross that lay on his bare chest. "Home, Chrno. It's time for you to come home. I've missed you."

Chrno shuddered, hardly able to breathe. "Am I dead?" he asked her, frightened, and he wrapped his wings around himself at her shrug.

"You're halfway between life and death. Closer to here now than there." She smiled again. "The train will be stopping soon. I stayed on it to wait for you."

"I never meant for you to die," he whispered, reaching out to touch her cheek.

She leaned into it. "It was my fate, I told you that. I'm just happy I got to know you, and to help you." She'd stripped his ties to Aion, died on him and left him masterless and alone, sleeping for fifty years in a tomb until Rosette found him. He shuddered again, still loving her, still wanting her touch in his mind that had been so soft he didn't even recognize it was there until the end. For a short time, she had been his entire world and he stepped closer to her.

"I missed you, Mary."

"Chrno!"

Surprised, Chrno looked up and gasped. Sister Kate stood behind Mary, glaring at him sternly. "You shouldn't be here," she snapped at him. "You're God's warrior. You're needed back there." She pointed towards the rear of the train. It was close, the door that led outside closed.

"It's time for you to come home," Mary countered, stroking his cheek. "Aion is defeated. You can stay with me."

"You need to go back!"

Chrno cried out, torn. Both were his masters, both had died with him draining their lives. He owed them both his life and his soul.

But _he_ hadn't died for _them_.

"Rosette!" he cried, bolting past them for the door Kate had indicated. He didn't go for her, but for his blonde demon lover. Neither woman tried to stop him and he shot a look back over his shoulder to see he'd left some part of himself behind after all. An image of himself in his adult form stood before Mary, bending down to accept her embrace while a boy stood half behind Kate, looking up at her obediently. His love for them and his guilt died on the train while the rest of him crashed through the rear door and leaped, wings spreading out for an eternity into the mist.

---000---

Shader looked like she was about to have an orgasm.

Shaking and squealing, the cat demon checked and rechecked the settings on the Elder's astral dialysis machine, babbling on non-stop about how brilliant it was.

"Do you have any idea how long I tried to come up with a way to gather astral? Soul gems, pocket watches, they're nothing! This _makes_ it! It makes more than Pandemonium herself can draw and it's all mechanical! It's brilliant!" She clapped her hands together and actually shrieked, spinning in a circle. "I spent _years_ trying to research this for Aion! It couldn't be done, I told him. Nope, couldn't be done. But it's _here! _And it's all mine mine mine! When can I meet this Elder? If I were human, I think I'd want to have his babies. Yup, lots of bald, brilliant babies."

Remington watched her bemusedly, not really knowing what to say to her, or entirely sure he'd get the device back. When he heard Rosette say that Chrno needed astral, he thought immediately about the dialysis machine the Elder had been using to suppress his own legions for the last half century. It had never occurred to him that it could be used on Chrno.

Apparently it could give him more than the tanks would on their own. He laid on his front on the padded table, stripped to his waist with dozens of wires imbedded into his back, each spot they touched on his skin glowing as they flushed his system. The setting was far higher than anything Remington had undergone and he knew how painful the process usually was, but Chrno was still sedated, his face covered by an oxygen mask. Rosette sat by his head, stroking his long ears and looking at Remington periodically with a look of gratitude so deep it made him uncomfortable. If he'd thought about it, he could have shared the machine with them months ago. Chrno could have avoided his dependency on Rosette entirely.

Well, not entirely, he thought as he watched her kiss his forehead. He'd have to have a talk with Rosette soon, one even Kate had been putting off.

"What's happening with his Legions?" she asked the scientist and Shader's antics stopped while she checked the monitors.

"Betterish," she said. "Too soon to tell. His astral levels are way, way healthy high. The legions are just kind of sitting there, resting. There's not a lot of _them_ left. Too few, much too few. Fifty years of abuse on them all. It'll take a looong time for them to regenerate to what they should be." She peered at the demon. "I still want to put him in the tank, yup, I do. Let him sleep. When they're rested, they'll start regenerating themselves. I need to figure out how to hook this up to the tanks, yes indeedy." She grabbed a sheet of paper and a pen and started scribbling, muttering to herself. Giggling a little insanely, she trotted off towards the wall, where she started to write on the paint.

Remington looked down at Rosette. "How are you doing?" he asked her.

"Me? Like it's going to be worthwhile getting up tomorrow." She leaned her cheek against Chrno's head.

"He could be in the tank a long time," the priest pointed out.

"It doesn't matter, as long as I know he's coming out again." Rosette put a hand to her lover's neck, feeling the steady beat there. "I can wait."

---000---

The tanks took up half the pavilion that had been hastily erected to hold them, the other side filled with machinery and monitors. Work was already slated to begin on a lab around it all, even before the barracks were finished or the new administration building started. For now though, it was a hazardous mess, with cables hanging everywhere or snaking across the ground, threatening to trip people, while the lighting was horrific, casting frightening shadows on the canvas walls that seemed to move.

Azmaria was frightened by it, but Rosette didn't care. She held Chrno's hand while he slid under the legion-filled, astral-enriched goo in one of Shader's tanks. He still slept, his legion count too low to risk any strain on him, and while she wished she could tell him goodbye, Rosette didn't argue. She settled for kissing his palm and whispering _good night_ before she let the hand drift under to join the rest of the sleeping demon. The lid closed, sealing with a final boom. Chrno was a shadowed shape inside, drifting on a motionless tide.

Joshua took her hand and she smiled at him briefly before looking back at her lover. He'd given her everything, even his life, and she owed him for all of it. She wouldn't let him sacrifice himself for her again. She might have been his master, but she refused to make him her slave.

"Shader," she called. The cat demon looked up. "I have an order for you. I'll have the same for Chrno later. You are _never_ to hide your pain or unhappiness from me. If you don't like a command, you're to tell me. If you're sick or hurt, you're to tell me. At all times, you are to remember you're an individual, not a slave, and you _will_ be granted as much freedom as you need. Do you understand?"

Shader's ears wriggled in confusion. "Um, yes?"

"Good." Rosette put a hand on Chrno's tank, whispering to him, and finally turned. With one arm around Joshua and the other around Azmaria, she led them out into the sunlight.

THE END 


	18. Birthday

BIRTHDAY 

By Hydraa

_This is the sequel to "Astral Line". Rated R for serious lemon._

---000---

The demon was in the boardroom, chortling to itself as it fed on the corpses of the men who had summoned it. It was huge and armoured, spikes sticking up from its spine and the sides of its massive, misshapen head. It bit and gulped the meat down, content for the moment to stay where it was.

Rosette Christopher crouched outside one of the doorways and studied it. It was stupid, big, and strong, but still a low class demon without a specific purpose. In Pandemonium, it was just cannon fodder. The businessmen who summoned it to increase their power had made a bad move. Even if they'd got the circle right and contained it, it wouldn't have been able to help them. All it knew how to do was kill and eat.

Lifting her hand, she touched the tiny receiver in her ear. "Christopher here," she whispered. "Is everyone in place?" A quiet chorus of _yeses_ sounded and she waited until she counted seven. She didn't want to move until everyone was in place. The unit had a few new novices in it on their first assignment. She had no desire to see them hurt and waited, curbing any desire to just charge in there herself and attack.

She'd had a lot of time to learn patience.

The last _yes_ came at last, from her brother, and she frowned. Joshua usually was so steady in a fight; it was unusual for him to be late. One of the novices was with him though, one Rosette didn't have a lot of hope for. The militia wasn't for everyone.

"Azmaria," she called instead, her voice still low but clear over Shader's equipment. "Are the cross barriers ready?"

_"They are," _the girl answered. _"The last one is set to go in. We're just waiting for your command."_

"Good." Rosette studied the room for a moment more, and readied herself to give the command. While she did, something shifted in the shadows by the shattered boardroom table. "Hold!" she hissed. "There's a second one."

Another demon came out of the shadows and she cursed under her breath. This one was long and lean, its skin blue and mottled but otherwise very human. A soldier demon. The businessmen had really done it.

"Soldier demon," she cautioned the unit. "There's a soldier demon. Stupid bastards. Single horn, about three inches." That made it low grade, but still far more dangerous than the beast it was with.

The second demon sauntered over to the first and scratched its back affectionately. Rosette would have been more moved though if the beast hadn't been feasting on human flesh. The soldier demon bent to try a taste as well and she rose. "Now!"

Immediately, a barrage of Sacreds fired through the room at the two demons, all very carefully placed so that there was no chance of any of the unit getting hit in the crossfire. The soldier demon shrieked and leaped into the air to avoid them, its wings spread. Meanwhile, the beast bellowed, one leg collapsing under it.

"Now, Azmaria!" she shouted.

A brilliant light flooded the room, a cross-shaped cage appearing around the two. The soldier hit it and rebounded, howling.

Rosette charged into the room, careful to keep clear of the barrier herself while the rest of the militia unit raced in around her, closing around the demons. She noted there was no sign of her brother, and then the barrier flickered and died, freeing both demons. The beast roared and charged, fire gouting out of its jaws.

"Get back!" Rosette shouted, even as she rushed forwards herself, changing. One moment she was a blonde woman in blue robes with a gun belt strapped over them. The next, she had golden wings sprouting out of her back and was airborne, headed for the soldier demon. The rest of the unit could handle the beast, but the boardroom had skylights. She couldn't afford to let it get out through them.

The soldier saw her coming and actually laughed, leering at her horns where her headdress blew away from them. They were barely an inch long, making her even lower in status than the beast in demon circles. It couldn't have expected much of her, but Rosette was born human. Her horns only gave her astral. They didn't dictate what she could do.

She shot past the demon and twisted herself around in the air, firing at its back. She was an inelegant flier, what with having to teach herself, but the soldier screamed as the hallowed bullets blew through its back. Its legions overloaded and shocked themselves apart, turning it into dust.

Rosette arched over, looking down. The unit had retreated to the corridors, using them for cover as they fired at the beast. It howled in confusion and pain, not knowing which way to run or who to kill, and she put it out of its misery by shooting it in the head from above. It crumpled and joined the soldier demon as dust.

Roughly, Rosette landed, holstering her weapon and shifting back to her normal, human form. "Anyone hurt?" she demanded and turned. "Joshua! Where the heck are you?"

Her brother appeared, a light beard on his chin and a disgusted look on his face. He wore the same blue militia gear she did, along with a collar at his throat. He hadn't quite reached priest status, but he was closer to it than she was to being a nun right now, even though she led the militia.

"I'm here," he told her.

Rosette put her hands on her hips and glared at him. "Everything okay?" she asked sarcastically. "Any reason you were late? And what happened to the cross barrier?"

He shrugged, shoving his hands into his pockets. Unlike the other militia, she didn't intimidate him. "The novice ran, which would have been fine if she hadn't knocked the bloody cross over when she did."

Rosette made a face. Some people definitely weren't cut out for the militia. If that girl thought she'd ever be accepted onto Rosette's team again, she'd have to do some serious proving of herself first.

"Clear up!" she shouted at the rest of the unit. "I don't want to be late for my own birthday party! I hear there's going to be cake!" They shouted out a cheer and she headed out of the room, to tell the police outside that it was safe.

---000---

The unit arrived back at the Order an hour later, their vans pulling up to let them out at the mess before heading to the garage. One of the novices, a girl who was still shaking a bit from seeing actual demons up close, watched as Rosette climbed down and headed away from them across the lawn, walking towards a square white building with a restricted sign posted outside the front door. None of the novices were allowed anywhere near it.

"Where's she going?" she asked Azmaria, a little more comfortable in these strange surroundings around the other girl. After all, Azmaria was only a few years older than her and had been there for years.

"She'll be back later," Azmaria told her calmly, her blue eyes watching Rosette vanish into the building. "She won't miss her party." She turned and looked at Joshua, smiling. "She'll remember this one for a while."

The young priest-in-training grinned at her wickedly and they went into the mess, leaving the novice standing there feeling confused.

---000---

Rosette walked into Shader's lab, stripping off her gun belt and leaving it at the door as she did. The place was a scientist's dream lab, equipment Rosette never could have understood crammed in everywhere. Shader lived in the place, happily sleeping on a cot at the back and emerging only to eat. Not seeing her, Rosette crossed the room to one massive machine in particular. It was one she knew very well, after hours spent sitting by it, and she looked at the monitors critically. Everything looked good.

"Hey, Shader," she called and heard a mew from somewhere in the lab. "How much longer?"

A head popped up from behind a supercomputer, one framed with cat ears. Shader pushed her glasses up her nose and shrugged. "Later. I want him at 280 before I let him out."

Rosette looked at the monitor and stifled a sigh. 260. It could be months before it rose to 280.

"You've waited this long," she told herself and pulled her customary chair up to one of the tanks that jutted out of the base of the machine.

A demon lay insensate inside, floating in a translucent goo that held him up and healed him. He had fifty years of cumulative damage to recover from and the process had been necessarily slow.

She just hadn't expected it to take two years.

"Hi, Chrno," she sighed, knowing he couldn't hear her but still liking the thought of talking to him. "We tried out the new novices today. What a cluster! They were as bad as we were when we started." She told him everything, every day. In two years, she hadn't missed a single visit.

"It's my birthday today," she reminded him. "Nineteen. Can you believe it? Az is fourteen and flipping gorgeous. It's not fair. Joshua is almost eighteen. He takes his final vows to be a priest next month. I… haven't. I'm still waiting for you." She laid a hand against the glass. "You gonna get out of there soon?" she asked plaintively and shook her head. She'd promised herself she wouldn't get maudlin. Father Remington had told her he'd ban her from the lab if she got hysterical over Chrno's tank again.

It was hard though, especially today. She wanted him in her life, wanted to feel his body and his mind. Shader was a good friend and bound to her as her master, but it wasn't the same. Her bond to Chrno had been so much deeper.

"You'll be out of here in a few months," she told him, "and boy will we have a lot of time to make up, and if you ever hide from me that you're sick again…" She took a deep breath. "Gotta work on that, Rosette. Control the anger. It's not his fault. Let it go." She exhaled slowly and smiled at the dim shape. "It's all jake, Chrno. It'll be great." She looked up at the clock at the wall. "I have to go. I'll save you some cake." Kissing her fingers, she pressed them against his tank and stood, quietly walking away.

Shader puttered with what she was working on until her master was gone and then stuck her head out from behind the computer, nose twitching. Sure she was alone, she scurried out and over to the healing tanks. For a few minutes, she studied the readings on the monitors and giggled before she turned and hurried away.

---000---

The party was as wild as a party in a convent during prohibition could get. Rosette stood on top of a table in the mess hall, whooping and shouting along with the music while her friends cheered and laughed. Most of them had known her for years, the novices she'd joined with now nuns who shook their heads in amusement. New novices gaped at her in hero worship. Rosette was half angel, the rumours went, her golden wings a gift from God. She was also a horrible influence. She made the convent _fun_.

The head of the Order smirked at her antics, not minding at all seeing her cut loose. "She'll have the novices up on the tables next," Remington noted. "What a nut."

Beside him, Joshua laughed. "You know Rosette, nothing can keep her down."

"Definitely not. I'd be disappointed if something could." Remington sipped his punch. "I read your report. You did well today, considering."

Joshua grimaced. "I don't want that novice back. Neither does Rosette. She could have got someone killed."

"You won't see her again. I think a quieter convent is more suitable for her. I'm thinking of sending her to Haiti."

Joshua laughed. "Good."

They both watched as Rosette hauled Azmaria up with her and started to dance with the younger girl.

"Is her present ready?" Remington asked.

"Getting there. And I've reworked her schedule so she's got nothing coming up." He smirked. "Too bad we can't do it here. I would have loved to see her face."

"Yes, well, given her reactions in the past, I'd rather she got this one in private. Later. I still have paperwork to do." He bowed and left.

Joshua returned the bow and went back to watching his sister, a mischievous twinkle in his eye.

---000---

Rosette stumbled back to the cottage after ten, drunk on adrenaline and highly sugared punch. Still giggling at the sight of Azmaria tripping off the table and into the punch bowl, she managed to get the door open and went inside, hitting the lights.

A balloon was tied to a vase on the table, a card propped against it. Smiling, Rosette went over and opened it.

_Happy birthday, Sis. I know we got you a present already, but there's another one waiting for you in the bedroom. Try not to break it._

Everyone had signed it.

"Oh really," she chuckled, wondering what kind of gag gift it was while she walked over to the bedroom. Last year she got a box of exploding cigars. They were great during meetings with local officials.

She flipped on the lights and nearly collapsed. Chrno was lying asleep in the bed.

Rosette started to cry, her hands covering her mouth and her breath just hitching. He was lying there on his side, his arm stretched out over her side of the bed, making that little kitten snore of his that she loved so much. He was in his human form as well, the one he'd lost the ability to change to when his legions failed.

She staggered over to him, nearly falling with each step and sobbing. "When? How?" Shader lied to her, the little bitch! Everyone did!

Shaking, she crawled up onto the bed and he stirred, coming awake as the mattress rocked. His slitted red eyes opened sleepily and he looked up at her, immediately reaching out.

"Rosette…" he whispered, pronouncing every syllable of her name with that little 'aaa' sound he always put on the end. His arm moved around her and she sniffled as she came down to him.

Then he was kissing her, his mouth dry and soft on hers. Rosette kissed him tentatively for the first moment and then more ardently, increasing the pressure and pushing her tongue into his mouth to stroke his as she shoved him onto his back, reaching for him. He was dressed in a white bathrobe, his hair still damp, and she tugged it open, her hand stroking down his bared skin. He sighed into her mouth, his own hands tangling in her hair.

His mind opened to her as well, his psyche baring itself for the first time in two years. This was one thing Shader didn't do and Rosette would never ask of her. Only she and Chrno touched like this, and she soothed her mind up against his, her awareness sinking deeply into his and rocking him on waves of pleasure.

"Shit," she cursed, pulling back enough to start stripping off her clothes, nearly ripping them as she knelt there and pulled them off, kicking them over the edge of the bed as he reached for her again, kissing her baring skin and touching her breasts, stroking her nipples. "Wait, wait!" She got her skirt and bloomers off, toeing off her boots, and stretched out against him, renewing the kiss. His body was warm, his length hard against her stomach as she got his robe off over his shoulders, not wanting anything between them.

It had been so _long_. His mind, his body, it felt so right and she rocked her hips against his. He returned the movement a moment later and she gasped. "Chrno!"

"Rosette," he whispered, staring into her eyes. His own were so slitted his pupils were a vertical line. He opened his mind even further and kissed her again. "Want you."

He could have her. Rosette threw a leg over his hip and angled herself as he pushed inside.

They both gasped at how tight she was. Rosette hadn't had anyone in two years, couldn't have imagined having anyone, even as she put off the final oaths for the Sisterhood. This was why she couldn't make those final promises, wouldn't as he braced his hand under her leg and thrust into her, his mouth never leaving hers, his mind shuddering throughout her.

"Oh, God, Chrno!" she gasped, holding him to her so tightly he had trouble moving. "I love you!"

"I love you," he told her, rolling her onto her back and thrusting harder, pumping his hips into hers until the headboard started to slam against the wall and she heard a picture fall off somewhere. Rosette didn't care. He was everywhere around her and she could smell him and he was _there_, awake and healthy and loving her. She cried out and brought her hips up against his, her passion starting to peak inside her.

The wave crashed over a moment later, Rosette screaming out, and that pushed Chrno over as well. He gave a strangled gasp and shoved himself deep inside her, shuddering.

Done, he collapsed, gasping, just resting for a moment. Tears in her eyes, she ran her fingers through his hair, holding him to her. If he never moved, she'd be happy forever.

"That," he gasped, "is a good way to wake up."

"Definitely," she smiled. Her entire body ached from having him. It felt like their first time again, only with less of an audience. "I love you so much." The last word came out on a sob.

"I love you." He shifted a bit, still lying on her but moving his head to press his nose against her ear. She felt his breath tickle her as he lifted his hand to cup her breast. "It's weird. I feel like I've been asleep forever."

Rosette stopped. He didn't know? Had Shader seriously brought him to their cottage still asleep? _She_ woke him up for the first time in two years? Why? Rosette would have thought the cat would have wanted to examine him first.

Maybe they needed her to be with him when he did wake, she thought, musing on it. Chrno was a soldier demon. Like Shader, he needed a master. He'd been asleep two years and she hadn't felt his mind since he fell. Perhaps Shader wanted to make sure she was re-established as his master before anyone else got close to his unguarded mind and potentially damaged it.

It worked. She could feel his mind easily now, having rebuilt their link while they made love.

"Sneaky bitch," she smirked.

"What?" he asked, pulling free and lying beside her. He shivered slightly and Rosette immediately pulled the sheets up.

For now, she didn't want to think about anyone else. She just wanted her Chrno back in her arms. She wiped fresh tears from her eyes and kissed his forehead. "Go to sleep, okay, Chrno? We'll talk in the morning."

"Okay," he agreed, yawning. He squeezed her breast and then gentled his hand, falling asleep with it still there.

Rosette didn't sleep at all. She didn't let herself. Instead she lay there and held him, feeling his breath and his heart beating while she let the tears silently flow.

---000---

Morning announced itself with Shader throwing the door open and bouncing into the room and onto the bed. Awake still, Rosette felt Chrno, who hadn't moved from his tangled embrace with her all night, jolt. Landing on either side of him while he rolled onto his back, Shader dropped to her hands and knees and crawled up his length to sit on his stomach and peer into his face from just a few inches away.

Rosette wasn't quite sure how she felt about that.

"What?" Chrno asked, looking up at her.

"Did you do it?" the cat asked him seriously. "Did you put your thingie in her? I want to watch while you put your thingie in her."

"No!" Rosette and Chrno both shouted at the same time.

That just made Shader pout. "I wanna watch! It's not fair. I don't get to get anything put in me. You guys are special." She wiggled her ears. "Sure I can't watch? Maybe put a few monitors in here? Figure out how you survive it? Millions and millions of horny demons will thank you."

"No," Rosette growled. "What do you want?"

Shader shrugged, looking down at Chrno again. "How are you feeling? Do you remember anything?"

"What? I'm fine. What do I need to… remember…?" His face slackened, confused horror filling his eyes.

"He remembers!" Shader cheered.

Chrno shot a look at Rosette. "Rosette? What? How sick was I?"

"It was bad," she told him, putting a hand on his shoulder. She took a deep breath. "You've been in Shader's tank for two years."

"But you're okay now!" Shader crowed, throwing her arms up while Chrno stared at Rosette, his face white. "At least, you should be. I have to check. I let you out a bit early to be Rosette's birthday present. Everyone else nagged and they nagged and they nagged, and then they promised me catnip. Did I mention I'm high? Can you tell? I can't." She shook herself and clambered off the bed. "Well, gotta go."

"Wait," Rosette protested. "Weren't you going to check him out?"

"Got it, got it." Shader ducked under the bed and brought out a complex monitoring system. "It's all on here!"

"WHAT'S THAT DOING THERE??" Rosette thundered. "I JUST SAID YOU COULDN'T DO THAT!"

"Better to beg forgiveness than to ask permission," Shader told her sagely and raced out of the room before Rosette could do more than throw a pillow at her.

"That bitch!" she thundered, glaring at the door. Chrno reached up and touched her shoulder.

"Two years?" he whispered.

Rosette leaned down against him. "Yeah. Shader said your legions were dying. They had to be remade from the beginning again and she says it's lucky it only took as long as it did. They'd been gradually collapsing ever since you lost your first horns." She swallowed. "I didn't have enough astral for you."

Chrno's arms came around her. "Don't say that," he begged.

"It's okay, though," she smiled, her lips quivering only a little bit. "We can use the same machine Remington uses to give you astral. It can match your horns' output easily."

"I'd rather have you kiss me," he told her and leaned in to do so.

Rosette kissed him back, feeling his soft lips on hers as she exhaled, astral leaving her body to be drawn into his, giving him life. It wasn't enough, she knew now. He'd nearly starved to death on the tiny bit her horns could produce, but he held her and he was warm, and she felt his ardour renew as his grip tightened. Moments later they were loving each other again, the only thing between them a glorious, golden sweat.

After that, and after they showered, she took him to breakfast. The last time Chrno saw the Order, the infirmary had been destroyed, the admin building half in ruins, and the male barracks replaced by a crater. While he'd slept, they'd been rebuilt and there was a new building, Shader's laboratory nestled against the new hospital. Chrno stared around at all of it, holding her hand. Rosette delighted at his wonder, even as she grieved again for how much time they'd lost.

Still, she told herself, they were demons. They were essentially immortal. Two years was nothing to them.

At the same time, it was forever and she leaned her head against his arm. He smiled down at her and hugged her to him.

"I'm not going anywhere," he promised her.

"You better not."

The mess hall was the same as ever, a boring, square building with narrow windows and high ceilings held up by pillars. Rosette led Chrno inside, grinning in anticipation, and paused in the doorway, clearing her throat loudly enough to be heard to the other end.

Predictably, everyone looked towards her and she saw them stop in shock as they recognized who was standing shyly behind her. Even the new novices stared, though they didn't know who Chrno was and probably only did so because he was utterly gorgeous. Slowly, one of the milita members stood, his gaze never leaving them, and he brought his hands together, starting to clap. Others joined him, standing as well, and then they were all standing, clapping and cheering. The mess echoed with their whoops.

"Holy crap," Chrno muttered, looking around in amazement.

"Did I mention you were missed?" Rosette grinned. It had become standard to pray for his recovery at Sunday mass.

Joshua hurried up, laughing, followed by Azmaria. "Chrno! Thank God!" He hugged him and Chrno patted his shoulder awkwardly, bewildered. Azmaria moved up beside him and hugged the demon as well, crying and laughing at the same time.

"We missed you so much, Chrno! Welcome back!"

"Yes, welcome back," Remington told him, stepping forward to shake his hand.

"I don't feel like I deserve this," Chrno told him in an undertone, looking around nervously.

"Don't you believe it," Rosette assured him. "Everyone missed you." She turned to the crowd and raised her arms. "Chrno!" she chanted, all of them taking up the call. "Chrno! Chrno!" Recognizing the name of the demon consecrated to God, the novices' eyes widened and they joined in. Rosette turned and threw herself at her brother and her friends, hugging them tightly. "Thank you."

"Liked your birthday present, did you?" Joshua chuckled.

"Oh, like you wouldn't believe! How do you plan to top it next year?"

She left him stammering and led Chrno towards one of the tables, getting him seated and running to get him some food, ending up in an argument with the cook about how he really could make up some cream of wheat. Chrno liked cream of wheat, and soup, and anything with a lot of liquid in it. So did Shader. Apparently most demons did, when they weren't chomping on human flesh.

Chrno looked around while he waited for her, blushing. He recognized a lot of the people who were around him, most of them going back to their own meals now. They looked different in subtle ways though. So did Rosette. She was more willowy now and her hair was longer, reaching down past her shoulder blades instead of just to her shoulders. It was still the same shade of blonde though and the changes just made her look womanlier, instead of a girl on the edge of adulthood. She _was_ an adult now and to him, she was even more beautiful.

He sighed, gripping his seat. Two years. That really was nothing to a demon, but what had it been like for Rosette? She still had a human's perceptions. He grieved for her, berating himself for letting this happen. She never should have had to shed tears over him. His memories of getting sick were hazy, but he remembered her crying.

Chrno stared down at the scratched table and then looked over to his right at a trio of girls sitting at the next table, staring at him. They were as young as Rosette had been when she first brought him there and he could see the crushes starting already. He sighed again and looked for his Rosette. He felt uncomfortable without her, out of place even though he'd lived in the Order for years. People he'd once known – and who had hunted him down more than once – came past his table, wishing him well, but he didn't really relax until Rosette came back, carrying a bowl of cream of wheat.

"Like this stuff is really that hard to make," she groused, putting it before him. Chrno sniffed appreciatively, realising he was actually hungry. Picking up a spoon, he started to scoop the soft cereal into his mouth. Rosette sat down across from him, looking at him with a gentleness in her eyes he wasn't used to.

"Aren't you going to eat?"

She shook her head no and leaned it on her hand, her elbow braced on the table. "I just want to watch you for a while."

"Okay…" he went back to eating, finishing the cereal quickly. When he looked up again, Rosette's eyes were closed and she was drooling. He blinked and she started to snore. "Rosette?" In answer, her head thudded against the table and the snoring got louder. "Rosette!"

Shader appeared beside the blonde, peering at her critically. "She stayed up all night. She's sleeeepy." She snapped her head around towards him, beaming, and Chrno barely had time to brace himself before she launched herself over the table and landed in his lap, hugging him until his ribs creaked. "I missed you!" Mrowing happily, she rubbed her head against his face, getting her scent all over him, and pulled back. "Time for dialysis," she told him.

"Dialy-what?" he managed, trying not to sneeze. Humans couldn't smell her scent. He could.

"Dialysis. Astral dialysis. Gets all the goody stuff you need into your body. Come on." She hopped off and tugged him to his feet, towing him along behind her as though the entire Order wasn't watching in amusement. Circling the table, she grinned at him and put a finger to her lips, tiptoeing up to Rosette.

"I'M TAKING CHRNO!" she screamed. "WE'LL BE IN THE LAB!" Grabbing him again, she dragged him towards the door.

Rosette's head shot up. "Uh? Whu?" Seeing they were leaving, she hurried after them.

The cat in the lead, they marched across the lawn, Chrno really feeling very silly about the whole thing. Once they were inside though, he stared around in amazement at the equipment. He hadn't seen so many advanced things since Pandemonium. "Wow," he managed.

"The Order gives me money," Shader cheered. "Lots of money and I get to make things! Aion never let me make so much. He was usually broke. Sheesh. Always had money for clothes though."

She led him over to a chair next to a familiar boxed machine and gestured at it. "Lose the shirt and sit." Chrno raised an eyebrow and looked at Rosette. She nodded and he pulled the shirt off, leaving his pants and belt alone. Shader mrowed appreciatively and pushed him down, getting him to straddle the chair and fold his arms across the back. Rosette stepped up in front of him, smiling and stroking his ears while Shader worked on something behind him.

"Comfy?" she asked him.

"Not really. What is she-" Shader appeared in his face again, only inches away.

"This is gonna huuuurt!" she promised and vanished again.

"What?? I- OW!" Something thin and pointed poked into his back, angling into the spine. Chrno started to rise and suddenly Rosette was holding him down, leaning her weight on him. She wasn't as strong as he was, but her leverage was far better and he couldn't get up. "What are you doing?"

"Just let her put them in, Chrno," Rosette told him. "They have to go in this way."

"But it hurts!" he protested and hissed as Shader stuck another one in.

"Only twenty more to go!" the cat told him cheerfully.

"Oh, God…OOOW!"

In all, it took five minutes, though to Chrno it felt far longer. Rosette finally had to settle for ordering him to hold still and even then he was panting by the time it was done. He felt like a porcupine and twisted his neck to look over his shoulder at the rows of foot long needles that jutted out of his spine from the back of his neck to just above his waist. A wire led from the end of each to the machine he'd seen earlier. It was the same one he'd brought to Remington to control his legions.

"What are you going to do with-" Shader flipped a switch triumphantly and he slumped against the chair, all the bones magically vanishing from his body. Astral poured through him, making his eyes roll up in his head and everything inside him relax. It didn't taste like it did when Rosette fed him, or made him feel like her touch did, but it certainly made him not care about the difference.

"Y'know," he heard Shader say. "I think that if I set up a second unit and put only one needle in him and turned it on, he wouldn't say boo about the rest of them going in."

"I think you've got a point," Rosette agreed dryly and ruffled his hair. "Astral whore."

Chrno just mumbled a vague sounding agreement and closed his eyes with a smile.

---000---

They lay in bed together, propped up against the headboard and watching the fireplace on the other side of the room. Rosette rested her head against Chrno's bare chest, listening to his heartbeat while his chest rose and fell with his breathing. A contentment she hadn't thought she'd ever feel again filled her and she hugged him. His arm around her shoulders tightened.

"Good day?" he asked her.

"The best," she whispered. "You came home."

"I'll always come home," he told her. "I promise you that."

Rosette closed her eyes for a moment and readied herself. Turning her head, she kissed her way up his body, pausing for a moment to lick his nipple and hearing his breath catch before she continued on to reach his neck and sit up, facing him.

"Chrno, I want to give you an order."

He blinked. "Huh? Okay."

She shook her head. "No. I want to give you an absolute order, one that you can't disobey. But I don't want to do it unless you let me, willingly."

He frowned, his brow tensing, and took a deep breath. "Okay. Do it."

"For sure? You're not just saying that to make me happy, are you?"

"No. I trust you." He looked straight at her as he said it, and if he was lying, she couldn't tell.

Rosette nodded. That would have to be enough. Shifting around, she straddled him, reaching down to grasp him lightly. He was already half aroused from her kisses and her hand quickly brought him the rest of the way. Guiding him, she sat down, taking him inside.

"What?" Chrno asked, even as he started to move with her.

"I want your mind open," she told him. Aroused, it always was. In orgasm, he was completely hers. "Just let it happen." She flexed her legs, pumping herself up and down on him and ignoring any sensation she felt, focused on his.

Chrno pressed back against the pillows, gasping. Rosette twisted his nipples, making him whimper, and reached up to stroke his ears, as well as the spots on his temples where his horns would have been. He cried out from the pleasure of it, his hands grabbing her and speeding her motion, drawing her down against him both harder and faster.

His mind was open, unrestricted and ready for her. Rosette wanted it even wider. She rode him feverishly, every move she made designed to excite, to build the fire in him and bring it closer. She felt it coming nearer, his psyche shuddering and wanting her mental touch, and she squeezed his ears, sending him that final distance with a strangled cry.

Rosette grabbed his mind.

Inside and out, she had him. His eyes were impossibly wide, his body frozen even as it shook from release. She'd never pushed her status as a master on him before, but now she filled him with it until she felt him submit, surrendering everything he was to her. That was what she'd been waiting for.

"You will obey me," she told him evenly, holding his face between her hands and staring into his slitted eyes. "This is your order. You will see me as your equal, not your master. You will not obey me unless you choose to and can do so without reservation. You will feel no need to hide your disagreement, your weakness, your illness, or your injury. If you ever need to tell me something, you will, and if I don't listen, you'll remind me of this command. Do you understand?"

"Yes," he whispered, shuddering.

Rosette let him go and he collapsed, gasping. Lifting up off of him, she lay down at his side, cupping his chin and turning his head to look at her. "Chrno? Are you okay?"

He looked at her a little dazedly. "My back hurts from all those needles." He blinked and frowned. "Crap. I wasn't going to tell you that."

Rosette smiled and kissed him. "It's jake. We'll see if we can get Shader to invent a better machine for you, okay?"

"Okay," he murmured and settled down with her. "So I'm your equal, am I?" he whispered a minute later.

"Yep."

"And you'll do what I say?"

"Well, I didn't say _that_. Just that you don't have to do what _I_ say unless you want to."

"Oh. Well, in that case, there's something I've wanted to do to you for years."

Rosette started to turn towards him, to ask what he meant, but suddenly he grabbed her, his fingers skittering up and down her sides. She screamed, frantically trying to get away, but his hands were everywhere and he'd shifted to demon, using the end of his tail as well.

"CHRNO! Stop tickling me!"

"Na-ah! Can't order me now!" His fingers moved wickedly, making her nearly dance out of her skin.

"Chrno, you _bastard!"_

THE END 

_And that, honestly, is it. I might write more at some point, but it's not too likely right now. I started writing fan fiction again because I was going through some horrendous writer's block after my last novel and I wanted to write 'something'. Writing these stories seems to have shaken something loose and I'm working on an original novel again, with hopes to enter it into a contest with a publishing company that has a guaranteed distribution contract through the USA and Canada as the prize. I think I've got a good shot at it._

_This has been fun though. I like Rosette and Chrno and I did want them to have a happy ending. I hope all of you enjoyed the ride as much as I did._

_Hydraa_


End file.
